


A House Full of Wolves

by anna_marlena



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Allison only mentioned, Hale family (Mentioned) - Freeform, Isaac is a puppy, M/M, Mates, No Alpha Pack, Pack Bonding, Pack Mom, Pining Scott, Post Season 2, Summer break, happy family (of sorts)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-08
Updated: 2015-02-12
Packaged: 2018-02-20 10:21:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 60,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2425172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anna_marlena/pseuds/anna_marlena
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summer with the Hale pack meant a lot of bonding.<br/>And some people bonded a little more than others - like a certain grumpy alpha and the human sidekick of the pack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“I cannot wait until you are finished with remodeling your house! Then I might be able to finally have my living room back” Sheriff Stilinski said with a sigh when he entered the sitting room and found a horde of teenagers, and one young man, sprawled across every sitting possibility in the room, the TV showing a movie and a multitude of pizza cartons surrounding the scene. 

“I promise we will be out of your hair as soon as possible, Sir” Derek replied, a look on his face that could only be described as a mix between grateful and amused. So much had changed in the last few weeks, and Derek was glad to be able to say that it had changed for the better.

“Admit it, Dad, you like having all of us hanging out here. We could have kept hanging out in an abandoned train station, but instead we chose this humble abode here. Much more comfortable, although I have to admit that it is quite funny to see a bunch of werewolves sitting around watching stupid rom-coms!” Stiles added, chuckling at the glares most of the males in the room directed at him. It certainly hadn’t been their decision to watch Crazy Stupid Love, but the combined forces of Lydia and Erica had made them cave and let them watch whatever the girls wanted. Not that Stiles minded. He liked that movie!

Indeed a lot had happened after the incident with Gerard Argent and the Kanima. For one, Chris Argent had carted his daughter off to somewhere in the middle of nowhere in France to get her back on a slightly less crazy track, much to Scott’s dismay. It didn’t pass a day where the young wolf didn’t stare off into the abyss and sigh, obviously longing for his first love. Stiles however found it to be good therapy for his best friend. He had to get a grip. What Allison had done to them, to their pack, had been inexcusable. The best thing for Scott to do would be forgetting the girl!

Not that that would be happening. Stiles knew Scott and Allison were destined to be together. But a bit of a break would do his best friend some good, get him back on track.

A much happier incident was retrieving Erica and Boyd from where they had been held captive by rogue hunters - again. It had involved Stiles’ father being pulled into the group of people in the know, but it would have been much harder to explain why the misfit group of teenagers was capable of finding their friends without a task force without mentioning the whole wolfy thing. Sheriff Stilinski had been shocked, to say the least, but surprisingly it had only taken Stiles explaining everything three times before he had wrapped his head around the new reveal of things. It had also cleared up a lot of things for the Sheriff, with what happened with Matt in the police station and all the other ‘mysterious deaths’ that had been occurring in their normally quiet town. Stiles suspected his father wasn’t all fine with it yet, but having Melissa McCall by his side to figure everything out together helped him greatly. In comparison, the woman had a worse fate, her own son turned into a furry monster every full moon, Stiles was just an innocent bystander. 

Although, calling Stiles Stilinski innocent was probably an oxymoron. 

By far the happiest about seeing Erica and Boyd coming back to them had been Isaac. The young wolf had been inconsolable for the whole time he had known his friends, his siblings rather, had been locked up by hunters, and as soon as he had seen the battered and bruised forms of the two teenagers emerge from the abandoned building they had been kept in, the boy had lit up like a Christmas tree. Stiles had to admit it was adorable to see what an effect the three had on each other, but especially Erica and Boyd on Isaac. After the power rush he had been on after the bite had toned down, Isaac had calmed his demeanor considerably. Because of the boy’s rocky past and the incident with Allison in the abandoned warehouse, where she had stabbed him, Isaac now suffered from bouts anxiety, and his wolf had adapted to it by appearing younger than the others and therefore was a lot more fragile and in need of care. Even though Isaac hated it, he truly was the youngest wolf of their pack. He tried to put on a tough act whenever people called him out on it, but actually, he reveled in the attention this position brought him. Too long had he gone without any positive attention, and the pack would be damned if they wouldn’t make up on the lost time!

Derek had been disappointed in Erica and Boyd because of their leaving, but he had tried to patch up the differences between his betas and him. He craved a well functioning pack, and the first step to achieve that was to let bygones be bygones. The same happened with Scott. They both admitted, albeit grudgingly, that they had been wrong on multiple accounts, and that they needed to work together to function properly on the same territory. Scott had seen how Derek was trying with the rest of the betas, and after discussing it lengthily with Stiles, had accepted Derek as his alpha.

So with a new Hale pack formed, bruises and cuts healed, Stiles’ surprisingly with the help of Derek Hale’s magic hands channeling the pain out of his body, the next thing to figure out was to bring the Hale home up to standard again. Derek had hired a troupe of workers to rebuild the house, and he had paid the men good money to have the house done as soon as possible. It had been six weeks now, and the house was ready to be moved into again. There were only minor details to be worked on anymore, and Derek reckoned moving day would be in a week or two. For the time being he had moved into a hotel in the city centre, and Isaac had been placed into the loving care of Melissa McCall. Once the house was done, he would move in permanently, with Derek being named his legal guardian. How that had been accomplished Stiles didn’t know, seeing as Derek had been accused of murder once- twice. Okay that might have been his fault, Stiles thought, but the charges had been dropped eventually after all. No harm done, even though Derek liked to hold it against Stiles from time to time. 

“While I enjoy the company and cooked dinner, I would really like to have my recliner back soon, son” Sheriff Stilinski said with a laugh, shaking his head at the scene again. Them having pizza really was an exception from what they usually had to eat.

Derek looked around himself, seeing his pack strewn across the floor and couches, and spotted Jackson lounging in the well worn recliner that the Sheriff obviously meant. 

“Jackson, up” he said, and the boy in question turned in his seat to look at his alpha.

“Huh?” Eloquent, as always, Stiles thought.

“Get out of the chair” Derek ordered again and Jackson huffed, turning back to the screen. It only took one growl from his alpha to make him practically fly out of the chair and over to where Lydia sat next to Erica. He picked her up as if she was as light as a ragdoll, sat down in the seat previously occupied by her, and then settled her in his lap.

It made Stiles want to vomit, they were so cute together. And that was something he never thought he would say. But after being practically reborn as a wolf, Jackson had changed. He had calmed down his asshole demeanor, which didn’t mean he wasn’t still an asshole, because oh lord, he was, but he had pushed it down a notch. Jackson’s wolf had recognized Lydia as his mate and after Lydia had accepted the mate bond, they were practically inseparable. It would be annoying, if it wasn’t so cute. Stiles had resigned on not ever having a chance with the redhead. It had been a nice thought in his head, but he had to admit, Lydia and he would probably kill each other sooner or later if they were to go out. No, this was fine. Stiles enjoyed the friendship he had with her now. He finally had someone who could hold up with his intellect!

From his seat on the other couch Stiles could see that everything was good. Everyone was happy, except for Scott, maybe, but he was getting there, and Stiles was grateful for this. They deserved this break. They all had gone through a shit ton of stuff and a bit of peace was well appreciated. On his left, Scott let out a sigh. Stiles turned to see a frown on his best friend’s face.

“Dude, what’s up?” he asked quietly and Scott turned to look at him, a look on his face that would make a puppy jealous.

“This is one of Allison’s favorite movies” he said with a sigh and a groan went through the ranks.

“Not again, Scott! You say that about every movie! You seriously need to get a grip or else I will-“ Jackson started, but again, a growl from Derek made the beta shut up. The alpha reached across the backrest from where he sat on Stiles’ right, and put his hand on the back of Scott’s neck. It was Derek’s way of showing affection and comfort. He was trying, really, to be a better alpha, to care for his pack, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t still have a long way to go before he would deserve a ‘#1 alpha’ mug. But still, this simple gesture showed that he cared, cared for his pack and what they were going through and right now, Scott needed this assurance to know he wasn’t alone. Stiles heard a low whine and looked over to where Isaac was moving towards their couch from where he had sat on the floor next to Boyd and between Erica’s legs. With another whine he settled in front of Scott and leaned his head against his leg. Stiles was close to cooing at the scene.

“Isaac I swear you are way too cute for a 16 year old! The puppy wants everyone to be happy” he exclaimed, ruffling the curly haired boy’s hair, only to receive a small snarl and a stink eye.

“I’m not a puppy!” he whined, but leaned further into Scott’s leg to comfort his wolf brother.

“Yes, you are, Isaac, there is no way to deny it!” Erica piped up from the other couch, and the rest of the pack chuckled at the face Isaac pulled.

***  
The wolf pack was getting ready to leave the Stilinski residence for the night. They had been spending almost every evening for the last few weeks in the same exact spot, and even though he had appeared to be completely fine with it, Stiles couldn’t wait for a change of scenery. He loved his home, and he loved his pack, but man, it could get boring sometimes! He followed the others into the front hall, where a mass of shoes was scattered around and the teenagers were rummaging through the piles to find their pairs. 

“We’re going to go shop for furniture for the house tomorrow. I would like all of you to come. This is going to be our house, not just mine, and everyone should get a chance to pitch in with ideas” Derek announced and most of the pack groaned. 

“But Derek! We had plans already! We rented a pitch and wanted to play a bit of baseball! You know, finally be able to not hold back all the time!” Scott whined and Derek heaved a sigh.

“Yeah, and Erica and I have appointments to get our nails done at noon, but afterwards we could join you” Lydia said and Derek’s sigh turned into a slight growl. He rubbed a hand across his face in defeat. Sometimes he regretted building a pack with a bunch of teenagers.

“Okay. At least you are doing something together. But I want all of you to come and look for furniture at least once in the next week, got it?” he said to the boys, then turned to Erica and Lydia. “You can meet me after your appointment. I’m sure you agree when I say I worry about the outcome of the house when I let the boys have free reign over what they buy.” Erica and Lydia nodded with a grin, promising to go to the furniture shop right after their manicure. With that the pack was out of the front door and piled into various cars, one after the other driving off. Seeing his betas off, Derek made to put on his leather jacket.

“So, when are we going to meet? Or are you picking me up tomorrow? I mean, it would be stupid to drive with two cars, right? What with the global warming, and, as much as I love my car, the Jeep really isn’t as eco-friendly as I would like it to be. So really, you should pick me up and then we go to the furniture shop together. But I am not stepping foot into an Ikea, okay?” Stiles looked at Derek’s confused face. Okay, maybe he had talked a bit fast, but the Alpha ought to keep up with him, he had sonic hearing or something after all!

“What?” Just like Jackson, Derek was ever so eloquent. Was that an integral part of the wolf gene?  
“Dude? You just said we are going to meet up to buy furniture! And I’m telling you we should take one car to go there!” Stiles repeated himself and understanding dawned on the taller man’s face.

“But don’t you want to go play baseball with the others? Or meet wi-“ he inquired, but Stiles stopped him in his tracks.

“Dude, I am not going to play baseball with your wolves, at least not if I value my body as a whole, and trust me, I do. They would mangle me! And while I appreciate clean and groomed nails, I am not going to a manicure with Lydia and Catwoman! Not in a thousand years!” he argued and Derek nodded. He could see reason in what Stiles was saying.

“Good, okay, I’ll come over at 11” he replied and bent down to tie his laces.

“What?! 11 in the morning? Come on Derek, I have summer break! Why do we have to get up that early?”

“Stiles! 11am or you can drive yourself!” Derek growled and glared at the younger boy. There it was, the Derek Stiles knew so well.

“Okay, okay, big bad wolf, no reason to growl at me! 11am it is. God, you really have to start working on your social skills! This is not normal!” Stiles’ rant was met with a light chuckle from the living room, where the Sheriff observed the situation. Stiles turned to his father and glared. He didn’t like people ganging up on him.

“Whatever Stiles” Derek said in passing and was out of the door. Once Stiles had closed the door behind the alpha wolf, he heard another chuckle coming from the living room. Stiles turned and stalked back towards his father plopping down on his previous seat.

“Don’t laugh at me, Dad” he growled, and man, he almost sounded like Derek!

“I’m not laughing at you, Stiles, I’m laughing at how everything has changed. I mean, you once accused Derek of murder and now he is a constant guest on our living room. You have to admit that a lot has changed!”

Stiles’ dad was right. Indeed a lot had changed between Derek and Stiles. Gone were the times where he was slammed into walls, or steering wheels, because of the brooding man. In fact, Derek was much less brooding than he used to be. He was really trying to be a better alpha, and that meant dropping the lonesome wolf act. He had started to get the pack together and now they could really say that he was the head of their family of misfits. 

Stiles had also found out that Derek had a sense of humor. It didn’t come out all too often, but when it did, Derek had the whole pack in stitches. It was… good. Yes, really good. 

And Stiles was probably the only person in the pack that didn’t get growled at for talking back. Maybe it was because he wasn’t a beta, he didn’t know. All he knew was that Stiles still had his lose mouth and he hadn’t once been shut up by the alpha. 

If he had to admit it, Stiles liked this slightly special position in the pack. And if he had to admit another thing, Stiles had to say that he kind of liked the banter between the two of them. It kept him on his toes. 

They weren’t friends, not really, but they were in a good place. 

Really, it would just be weird to call Derek his friend.

Even though it wouldn’t be bad to have such a good looking guy as a friend – yes, Stiles liked looking at Derek, sue him. Who wouldn’t like looking at Derek Hale?

And maybe he had had a dream or two before, starring one dark haired alpha wolf in the lead role. It had stumped him for a few moments after waking up the first time, but by now he had sort of gotten used to Derek staring as the lead in his dreams. There really wasn’t anything he could do about what his subconscious wanted to show him, right? And it’s not as if Stiles didn’t enjoy those dreams… Anyways!

Yes, a lot had changed, and Stiles would never change it back.


	2. Chapter 2

At 11am sharp Stiles saw Derek pulling up in the Camaro in front of his house. With a wave good bye to his father and his travel coffee mug in hand he was out the front door and walked towards the car. He opened the door on the passenger’s side and let himself fall down on the seat. It was still too early for him. He was on summer break for heaven’s sake; he didn’t want to have to be up before noon!

“Morning sunshine!” Derek greeted him with a laugh and received a grunt in response. The alpha wolf could be so funny sometimes!

“Very funny” Stiles replied drily and fastened the seat belt across his body.

“You didn’t have to bring me coffee, Stiles!” Derek didn’t even react to the snap, instead took the mug out of his hands with a smile and took a sip.

“That is my coffee!” Stiles exclaimed, earning another chuckle from the man next to him. Derek handed him the mug back and started the car.

It was weird, sometimes, how completely un-Derek Derek was. And most of the time it happened when Stiles was around. 

“Half of my coffee is gone now! You owe me another one, Derek, I’ll hold you to it” Stiles griped, taking a sip of the coffee that was left. He very clearly was not a morning, or early noon, person. 

“Whatever, Stiles, let’s just go or we’ll never get to buy anything” Derek replied, again not reacting to Stiles’ words.

The thirty minute drive was spent in silence, Stiles dosing off with his head leaned on the side window. Derek had taken the travel mug out of Stiles’ hands and was sipping the rest of it. He had to admit that Stiles’ coffee concoctions were always quite delicious. There was a distinct flavor of hazelnut syrup and almond milk in it that made it ridiculously tasty! 

“Stiles, wake up, we’re here” Derek said, shaking Stiles’ shoulder slightly to get him to wake up.

“Wha-?” the boy mumbled, looking around himself bleary-eyed. He really wasn’t a morning person!

“We’re here” Derek repeated his words and Stiles nodded, stretching as well as he could in the sports car, then opened the door to get out.

The two walked through the mechanical doors into the acclimatized store, which was a welcome change to the hot weather outside. Summer break had been greeted with a heat wave, and anyone without an AC system could be severely pitied. 

Stiles walked straight forward, towards where the first kitchens were out on display, but stopped when he noticed Derek not following him. He turned back around and saw him walking towards the coffee shop at the entrance instead. The boy backtracked quickly and fell in step with the older.

“You are thirsty again? You just drank my whole coffee on the way here!” he said, but got no reaction from Derek. Instead of waiting in line he sat down at one of the tables. He had gotten up early, that didn’t mean that he didn’t want to be comfortable, though, and standing waiting in line was not Stiles’ way of being comfortable. 

“Stiles!” 

Stiles was shaken out of his thoughts when he heard his name being called and he turned to look over to where Derek was waiting for him to react.

“What?”

“What do you want?” Derek asked as if it was completely normal for him to buy Stiles coffee. Stiles, however, was slightly surprised by it. Sure, he had told Derek he owed him a coffee, but surely the other man hadn’t taken him seriously, had he? It seemed like it.

“Uhh, Hazelnut Latte” he replied, practically shouting across the place. Why Derek hadn’t asked him before Stiles had sat down he didn’t know. Try to understand these wolves!

“Hot or cold?” Derek continued asking, and Stiles could see that the person in line behind Derek was getting slightly annoyed with them.

“Cold” Stiles replied again, and he was slowly starting to feel awkward. Okay, he was awkward all the time, but being at the center of attention in a coffee shop wasn’t something he did on a day to day basis. So yeah, awkward. 

A moment later Derek emerged from the line, much to the other customers’ relief, with two tall cups in his hands, along with a small paper bag. He handed over one of the cups as well as the bag without a word, then turned on the spot and walked towards the furniture displays. Stiles could only shake his head. Derek still had a lot to learn when it came to social skills. At least his drink was good. Opening the bag he saw a muffin that distinctly looked like raspberry cheesecake, one of his favorites. Nice!

Sipping his drink and trailing behind Derek, Stiles looked through the various displays of dinner tables and chairs, for the moment not saying a word.

Eventually Stiles couldn’t bear walking in silence, though.

“So, what do you want to buy?” he asked with his straw still in his mouth. Derek turned from where he looked at a large wooden table.

“Pretty much everything, except for the kitchen and the things for Isaac’s room. He’ll decide what he wants himself, it’s going to be his room after all” Derek explained and Stiles nodded. Made sense. The Hale house had burned down almost completely, and so far, Derek hadn’t really bothered with furnishing his other living spaces. Really, how Derek had lived in an abandoned train car escaped him. There hadn’t even been running water!

“Good, well, we won’t want to have that table though” Stiles replied, taking another sip of his iced latte. Derek shot him a frown.

“Why not? It’s a nice table, it’s durable, made of real wood and not this pseudo wood stuff” he argued, but Stiles kept shaking his head.

“You mean chipboard. And yes, it’s nice it’s made out of wood, but it only seats six people. As far as I know, we are more than six people.” The grin on his face could be described as ‘shit-eating’. Stiles loved it when he was smarter than others. “You need to start counting better, sourwolf.”

Stiles was thankful they were the only people in the vicinity, or else Derek growling and flashing his alpha-red eyes at him would have caused quite a riot.

“Okay, okay! Sheesh, don’t be so bitchy, oh big bad alpha! I was just saying that we will need a table holding at least ten people, so really, we should look at a few bigger options, or, you know, have the table custom made. I think that would be easier in the long run. I doubt this store has a special department for wolf packs! But we can choose some nice chairs and then you can have the table made so that they fit together” Stiles tried to reason with his alpha. He might be the only one who could talk to Derek whatever way he pleased, but that didn’t mean he liked the death glares that still were directed his way sometimes. 

With a sigh Derek nodded and let himself fall on the chair next to him. Stiles sat down opposite of him and set down his drink.

“Hey, really, it’s not a big deal, I mean, I know the table won’t be done by next week, but hey, it’s not as if you have never lived without a dining table before, right?” Stiles tried to lighten the mood and Derek’s lips escaped a light chuckle.

“No, you’re right. I guess we should make a list of what we need to get right now, and what can wait for a bit. There is no way I’m going to furnish five guest rooms in one go. Do you have a piece of paper?” the alpha asked and after petting himself down, Stiles shook his head. Derek huffed and got off his seat, walking across the show room and towards a desk where a saleswoman was sitting. A moment later he came back with a notepad and a pen. 

“Okay, so, I had planned to have a breakfast table custom made as well. It is already being made. I can call the carpenter later today and make another appointment for another table. There really is no way we are going to buy a table for twelve people here. If there are tables that large here, they’re probably going to cost a fortune” Derek said, writing down ‘dining table’ under the ‘custom’ column he had drawn up. “Anything else we won’t be able to get in a normal store?” he asked and Stiles shrugged his shoulders.

“I think the rest will be quite easy to buy here or at other department stores. Let’s just make a list of things we really need to buy in the next week and go for that. The rest can be done piece by piece. Even if the pack is going to sleep over at your house, we aren’t going to use the guest rooms anyways, at least not for now. I’m pretty sure we’re all just going to sleep in the living room” Stiles reasoned and Derek nodded, writing down ‘living room’ on the other column. 

“I also need to get an office ready. I want to have a place where research can be stored, and no Stiles, your bedroom is not the perfect place for that” Derek said, chuckling when Stiles let out a huff when he was cut off before he had even started to speak. Could werewolves read minds now, too?

“Good, living room, office, kitchen ware, so you can actually cook and eat in the house, what else?” Stiles said, opening the paper bag with the muffin and pulling the pastry out to set it on the bag. These muffins were just too good! He broke off a piece of the cake and stuffed it into his mouth, letting out a moan when he tasted the raspberries. Man, he loved raspberries! 

At the noises Stiles made Derek looked up, raising one of his eyebrows at him questioningly.

“What? These are delicious! Try it!” Stiles defended himself, breaking off another piece of cake and holding it out across the table for Derek to take. Derek looked at the piece of cake as if it was offending him, but eventually took it and put it in his mouth. It was all he could do not to moan just like Stiles had done before. These muffins were incredible!

“Uhmm, yeah, we also… I also need… well, a furnished bedroom would be nice” Derek said, coughing to get back on the issue at hand. How could a piece of muffin distract him so much? Although it probably wasn’t the cake that was doing the distracting…

“Ha, you got enough of sleeping on the floor? I can’t disagree with you there, you really need a bedroom!” Stiles laughed and pulled over the list Derek had started. With bold letters he wrote down ‘Alpha’s cave’ and pushed it back across the table. Derek read the newest bullet point and groaned, but the grin on his face couldn’t be hidden away. 

With a makeshift plan in hand the pair got up again and started walking around the different aisles in the show room a second time.

“Well, now that we have a list of what rooms to furnish, let’s look out a couch! I want a really large couch, more like a cushion island, really, you know, so there is enough space for the whole pack on there! It has to be large enough for all of us to sleep on there! Derek maybe we’ll have to get a custom made couch as well after all! I don’t think there are couches that large being sold regularly!” Stiles rambled on and on, walking in front of Derek towards the couch section, and Derek wasn’t sure if it hadn’t been a huge mistake to take Stiles of all people with him to go furniture shopping. Had the boy taken his Adderall in the morning? It didn’t seem like it…

And if you squinted a little bit, it even seemed as if the two were shopping for a house together. As in, they were both going to move in. Derek had to admit that he wasn’t as offended by the thought as he would have been a few months, or weeks even, earlier. He had grown accustomed to the incessant talking of Stiles, as well as all the weird things the boy did on a regular basis. He might have even grown a bit fond of them, had grown fond of him. When Derek had met Stiles half a year ago, he had been nothing but annoyed by him, but the annoyance had turned into something else. He enjoyed Stiles’ company, even if he got a headache because of him more often than not. It was nice not living in complete silence anymore. 

“Derek I mean it, I’m pretty sure we are not going to get a couch that large here! But we need a couch by next week! We have to have a housewarming movie night, but we can’t do that without a couch! This is horri-“

“Stiles! Shut up!” As much as Derek liked the silence being gone, this was just too much talking at one time!

“But-“

“Do you mean something like that?” Derek ignored Stiles and moved over to a monstrosity of a couch.

“Oh my God, yes! This is amazing! It’s like an island! This is the couch we have to get!” Stiles exclaimed, pushing his coffee in Derek’s hands and letting himself fall backwards on the couch. “This is amazing! There is enough space for another pack on here! You have to try it out!” 

Derek shook his head at Stiles’ ridiculousness but sat down on the couch as well, and he had to admit that yes, this was probably the perfect couch for them. He sat down the coffees on the side table next to the couch and let himself fall backwards so he lay next to Stiles.

“We’re going to buy it” he said after a moment of silence, and Stiles fist pumped, letting out a grunt of success. In that moment Derek’s phone started going off in his back pocket. He pulled out the device and accepted the call.

“Hey Erica… yeah we’re still here… we? Oh, Stiles is here as well… yeah, we’re in the couch section… look for the largest couch and you’ll find us… okay, see you in a bit” he ended the call, and Stiles already knew what it had been about. 

“The girls are here?” he still asked and Derek nodded, but didn’t move to get up. This couch was just way too comfortable.

Only a few moments later Stiles could hear Lydia and Erica’s laughter from where they were walking towards them. He sat up and grinned at them, opening his arms and waving them around.

“Welcome to our new couch!” he exclaimed and the girls stopped short in front of them.

“That is… the biggest couch I have ever seen in my life!” Lydia said, for once short for words.

“Yeah, it’s really nice, good job guys! I didn’t think you had it in you to find something decent to buy! I really like the color” Erica agreed, earning a growl from her alpha. Erica was quick to look to the floor and be ashamed. No one talked to the alpha like that. No one, except for Stiles.

“Yeah, we are not going to buy a cream colored couch, not in a million years” Stiles said drily, and Erica looked up to frown at him.

“Why not? It looks really good!”

“Uhh, because you are a pack of freaking werewolves, and you are going to track in dirt from the preserve, and also, Scott is part of the pack and I have seen him eat before. There is no way we are getting a lightly colored couch. It would be dirty within two days! Also, if I ever see you two painting your nails on the couch you’ll have a new thing coming!” The look Stiles directed at the girls had them shut up immediately. Derek chuckled. It really seemed like Stiles was the one moving into the house! And who knew anyone could get this passionate about a couch?! Stiles apparently!

“Okay, maybe you are right. Scott really eats like a pig, and I hate to admit it, but so does Jackson. It would be really stupid to buy a white couch when those two are going to be on it constantly” Lydia agreed and sat down next to Stiles.

“What do you think, Derek? You like the couch?” Erica asked while letting herself fall on the couch like all the others. 

“I like it, it’s comfy, we’re buying it.” 

In that moment a sales woman approached the group and asked if they needed any help.  
***  
After the delivery for the couch had been scheduled, Derek paired Erica and Lydia together to go and look at kitchen ware they liked. Even though both girls were useless in the kitchen, he let them choose what dishes they wanted to get. They had argued that they would know best what would look good and that Stiles would probably pick something horrible. Stiles resented their words. He was sure he would pick out amazing stuff!

Derek and Stiles ended up looking through piles of towels of all sizes and colors, even though they were really not the most important things to buy.

“Look at these! These are amazing! Derek, you have to get a set of these!” Stiles exclaimed while rummaging through a pile of colorfully printed towels.

“Stiles, I’m not going to buy novelty towels. I want a nice home, not a frat house” Derek replied, not even sparing the towels Stiles was holding up a glance.

“I resent that! These are not novelty towels! They have the Starfleet emblem on them! They are awesome!” In that moment Derek was really glad the girls were choosing dishes. They were right, Stiles would probably have chosen something ridiculous! 

After another few hours of walking through the store, choosing furniture here and there and scheduling them to be delivered all on the same day Derek and Stiles met up with the girls again and walked to the check out together. The girls had two carts full of essential kitchenware, and Stiles really hoped they would get everything into their two cars. The boy was impressed when Derek didn’t even flinch when he heard the total, but instead just passed over his credit card. Stiles knew the sum Derek had received from all the life insurances of his late relatives had been hefty, but still, that was a lot of money for pots and plates!

The four had to practically play Tetris in their cars’ trunks, but they ended up being able to stow everything away. Erica trailed Derek on their way back to the Hale property to drop off their purchases and Stiles gasped when the rebuilt house came in sight. It truly was a sight to see. Stiles had seen the process of it being rebuilt, but it still took his breath away every time he laid his eyes on it. It was gigantic and absolutely beautiful.

With two werewolves in their midst, unloading the car was done quickly and all the boxes were stowed away in the kitchen. The workers didn’t have to do anything there anymore, so they wouldn’t be in the way. 

“Good, this is a start. The furniture is being delivered next week, what’s really important now is for Isaac to chose everything for his room” Derek said more to himself than to the others, looking at his new home. He had chosen to build a completely new house on the old ground.   
Even though he had grown up in the burned down Hale house and had spent the majority of his life being happy there, too many bad memories lingered there now, and Derek didn’t want to have to be reminded every time he walked inside that he was the reason there was no one of his family left inside. He might have not burned down the house himself, but he had let Kate get to them.

He wanted to build a new home for his new pack. A new start.

“You know what else is good? Food! I’m starving” Erica announced and earned a chuckle from Stiles. 

“Well, aren’t you lucky that I had planned to make my grandmother’s barbeque chicken and potato skins!” Stiles said with a laugh and together the foursome made their way back through town to the Stilinski residence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my God, seriously guys? I'm absolutely BLOWN away by the reception of my story! I'm so so humbled by all of your kudos, subscriptions and bookmarks. Seriously, I never thought you would actually like what I have written.  
> So thank you very very much for reading!
> 
> I hope you liked this chapter as well, and if you are able to, get your hands on some raspberry cheesecake muffins from Starbucks! I don't know if you can get them everywhere, but they are THE BOMB!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be a bit shorter than the rest of the chapters, but I still hope you like it! I thought it was quite the cute moment!  
> Enjoy!

Four days later the pack met in front of the rebuilt Hale house. The builders had completed their work the day before and everything was set for them to move in, which would happen in two days time. The day before, Derek had taken Isaac back to the furniture store to pick out what he wanted to have in his bedroom. The wolf had been completely overwhelmed with the fact that he was allowed to choose whatever he wanted, and it had taken Erica holding his hand the entire trip through the store to get him to calm down. Again and again he had insisted that Derek would spend too much money on him, but Derek hadn’t reacted to any of his protests. The pup really had to make up time of being cared for. Along with Isaac’s furniture, the three wolves had also picked out other necessities that would be vital for them to live in the house.

The pack had also gone to a hardware store to pick out paint. They had agreed as a unit that white walls just wouldn’t do. So far they had only concentrated on paint for the rooms that would be frequented regularly for the next few months. What use was it to paint the walls in rooms that wouldn’t even be occupied for the time being! Erica had pouted at Derek’s decision, but he had soothed her growls with a promise that she could have free reign with the paint for the walls that would eventually be ‘her’ room. Derek had planned the house so that every one of his betas would have a room to stay there over night, and in a bed, so really, every one of them had their own bedroom at the pack’s new house. 

To get the paintjob out of the way quickly, the pack had divided into smaller groups, so multiple rooms could be done simultaneously, because the more rooms could be painted at the same time, the faster Derek could take the paint away again. It just wasn’t safe to have large buckets of paint in the wolves’ vicinity. It would just end up getting everywhere!

Stiles ended up staying in the movie room with Derek. Yes, they would have a freaking movie room! The paint they had chosen for the room was a deep, warm burgundy that matched the dark brown fabric of the couch perfectly. This room would really be turned into a cozy nest where they could just relax and watch movies.

The pair worked in silence, and for once, Stiles didn’t have the urge to fill the void with incessant chatter about everything and anything. Their silence was companionable; something Stiles hadn’t really experienced with Derek before. Not to this extent, at least. So far, Stiles had always tried to avoid silences, because they just made him feel awkward, but this, them painting walls next to each other, was nice.

In the end it was Derek who broke the silence with a chuckle. Stiles stopped where he was painting and turned to look at the man to his right.

“What’s so funny? Do I have paint on my face? Because that could very well happen! I remember, the last time I helped my dad paint the living room, I ended up with cream colored hair.” And there it was, his incessant chatter. Another chuckle from Derek’s direction made him stop.

“No Stiles, you don’t have paint on your face, don’t worry. Do I have paint on my face?” Stiles stepped over to Derek, his paint brush still in hand, and inspected his face.

“Well, you have something right…there” Stiles said, laughter bubbling up when he lifted his paint brush and dipped it against Derek’s cheek. Derek was immediately left speechless. He lifted his hand to his cheek, and it came back dark red.

“You didn’t just do that” he said very slowly and quietly, but Stiles’ laughter couldn’t be stopped.

“I did didn’t I?!” he brought out between bursts of laughter. His sides were starting to hurt. The look on Derek’s face was just too hilarious. 

The alpha wolf slowly started to stalk towards Stiles. The look on his face turned from stunned to mischievous, maybe even a bit predatory, and Stiles’ laughter died in his throat. This didn’t look good for him.

“I think I missed something on your face after all, Stiles” Derek said calmly, and Stiles started to vigorously shake his head.

“No, I think I’m fine, Derek, totally fine! Derek! DEREK!” Stiles backed away from Derek who was coming closer and closer, but there was no outrunning a wolf. Derek’s hand curled around the younger man’s wrist, and persistently, but at the same time carefully, Derek pulled Stiles back into the room, and over to the bucket of paint.

“Derek, I’m warning you! You are not dunking me in the paint! I swear to everything that is good, if you splash paint on me-“

“I’m not going to splash paint on you, Stiles” Derek said, a laugh now evident in his tone of voice, but he still kept pulling Stiles’ arm to the bucket of paint. “You’re going to splash paint on yourself!” And with that Derek dunked Stiles hand into the paint, and pulled it back out, now bright red and dripping with gooey paint. He kept up the grip on Stiles’ wrist and slowly inched it towards the boy’s face.

“No, Derek, please! I’m sorry, come on man, this is going to be a bitch to get out of my hair! Nononono, Derek!” But it was too late and with a triumphant laughter, Derek planted Stiles’ hand on his own face, leaving a bright red and dripping hand print all over the right side.

“Oh this is going to be sweet revenge!” Stiles exclaimed after his hand was released again, and he made quick work of dunking his paint brush, which he was still holding in his other hand, into the bucket and smearing it across Derek’s other cheek and forehead.

“You are on!” 

The ruckus they caused lured the rest of the pack to see what was going on. They stopped short in the doorway to the movie room, shocked at what they were seeing. Both Derek and Stiles’ were sprinkled with red paint from head to toe, but the majority of the paint was on their faces.

“What on earth are you doing?” Lydia eventually exclaimed, getting Derek and Stiles to stop one-upping each other. The two were a real sight to see, as was the rest of the room.

“And they said we would be the ones getting paint everywhere” Boyd commented drily, then turned back to finish painting the dining room.


	4. Chapter 4

With moving day only one more night away, Isaac was starting to get anxious. Not about moving in with Derek, because the older man already felt like a brother-slash-father figure to the teen. It was something different that made the curly haired boy lay awake early in the morning. 

He still had most of his possessions at his old house. After his father had been killed, and Isaac had been accused of the murder, the teenager hadn’t dared to enter his childhood home again. He had left with the things he had had on him, not looking back on his old life. He wanted to forget everything about it. And thankfully no one had pushed him to go back there and figure everything out. The house was still the same way he had left it. He just couldn’t bring himself to sort everything out, getting it cleared out and selling it. He was only seventeen years old, and most of his life he had been tormented in that place. It was only reasonable for him to not want anything to do with it anymore.

Isaac was forever thankful for Derek taking him in just like that. Yes, he was his alpha, but Isaac had never felt anything close to family ever since his mom had died. It was new to him to be cared for like that. Derek had hired a lawyer to deal with all the legal matters with the house and Isaac’s father’s other possessions, so Isaac wouldn’t have to think about it anymore.

And he hadn’t thought about it, not until that morning at least. 

The boy had woken up earlier than necessary, with only one thought on his mind: He still had all his things in the house. And he kind of wanted to have them back. For his new room. He wanted to have the picture of his mother to have it sit on his bedside table. He wanted to have the band posters that used to be his brother Camden’s to hang on his walls. He wanted to have his 2nd grade spelling bee trophy to set it on his new dresser. 

He wanted at least a few remembrances of his mother and brother in his new life. 

These thoughts still swirled around in Isaac’s head when he walked down the staircase and into the kitchen, where Melissa McCall was flipping blueberry pancakes for the guests sitting around the kitchen table, Stiles, Sheriff Stilinski and Derek.

“Good morning Isaac! Do you want blueberry pancakes as well or just plain ones?” Scott’s mother asked the boy, and a warm feeling spread in Isaac’s chest. He hadn’t felt this cared for in a long time. Even when he had ‘lived’ with Derek in the old train depot it hadn’t been like this. Yes he had felt safe close to his alpha, but it hadn’t been like a family back then. It was starting to feel like a family now, with the prospect of having a real home again, and enough time for pack bonding over the summer break. This feeling of family healed wounds, not just in him, but in Derek as well, he could feel it. He could feel his alpha getting stronger and more content every day. Isaac was only a little proud to be able to say that he was part of the reason for this as well.

“Blueberries would be great” Isaac replied, sitting down between Stiles and Derek and pulling a glass towards him from the middle of the table, filling it to the brim with orange juice. 

The feeling of content at being close to his pack was slowly being drowned by the feeling of anxiousness again. He didn’t want to think about it, but he couldn’t stop his brain. 

Isaac felt Stiles turn towards him and frown.

“Is everything alright, Isaac?” the teenager asked and Isaac stiffened. Stiles was a human, how did he notice his anxiousness?

“Fine” Isaac answered, trying to believe his own words. He wasn’t successful and tried to distract himself by taking a large sip of his orange juice. He didn’t need everyone to know about how he felt. He didn’t want to be a burden for the others.

“Isaac?” Derek asked from his other side and the tone in his alpha’s voice let a whimper escape the boy’s lips. Immediately he tried to cover up his slip, but to no avail. Derek placed his palm on the back of Isaac’s neck and pulled him closer to his side. Derek didn’t show his caring side often, but he still did care. 

“What is it?” the alpha asked quieter this time, and after another whimper escaped Isaac’s throat, the teenager looked up to face his guardian.

“My things are still at the house… I… I would like to… But…” he stuttered out, and immediately everyone knew what the boy meant. Isaac felt another hand rest on his lower back, sending comfort his way. 

“It’s okay, Isaac. We can figure something out. You don’t have to go if you don’t want to” Derek calmed the boy, and Isaac had never been more thankful that his guardian knew what it felt like to have a rocky past. He was certain that Derek would never push Isaac to do anything that would potentially harm him mentally. 

“Derek is right, son, if you don’t want to, we can send up someone from the sheriff’s office to collect what you want to have with you in your new home” Sheriff Stilinski concurred, but Isaac shook his head.

“No… I have to go myself… to… to put it behind myself… But I don’t want to go alone” Isaac admitted, and what he said held truth. He would have to go and face his past one last time to finish with that chapter of his life. He just didn’t want to face it on his own.

“No one is making you go alone, sweetheart. I’m sure anyone would happily go with you and pack up your things” Melissa calmed the boy, ruffling Isaac’s curls and setting a plate in front of him.

“Yeah, I can come with you, if you want. Or Scott, or Scott and I” Stiles offered and Isaac turned to look at his class and pack mate next to him. 

“You would come with me?” 

“Of course, puppy! You just have to tell me when you want to go and I’ll be ready” Stiles repeated with a smile, petting Isaac’s lower back softly.

“Thank you.” Isaac had never been more thankful for his pack… his family.

***

Stiles met with Isaac again a few hours later. The two had decided not to take anyone else with them. Stiles figured Isaac wanted to get this over with as quick as possible and without carrying any damage from it, so while it would make it easier and faster to pack up the things with another person to help, another person would also mean another set of questions. 

Isaac hopped into Stiles’ Jeep with a timid smile, and Stiles noticed that the werewolf had never been in his car with him before. Well, now that the pack was getting together that would probably change!

“You ready?” He asked the boy in the passenger seat and Isaac nodded tensely.

“Hey” Stiles said again, and Isaac looked up at him, “everything’s going to be fine. We’re just going to get the things you want to have and we’ll be out again in no time. And after that you won’t have to ever go back anymore.” The reassuring words seemed to do the trick and a small smile grazed Isaac’s face.

“Thanks, Stiles. You’re a great friend” Isaac said and Stiles could feel that the other boy meant what he said.

“Of course I am. I’m amazing!” he replied, diffusing the tense mood in the car and Isaac let out a small chuckle, probably the first one that day.

The pair arrived at the Lahey house quick enough, and Stiles had to acknowledge Isaac’s strength when he just walked up to the house and opened the front door with the key on his chain. 

“So, what do you want to take with you?” Stiles asked when they stood in the hallway. Isaac looked around towards the kitchen, but quickly away again. There were still broken shards of china and glass on the floor around the kitchen table. He opened a closet and pulled out a discarded box, then walked into the living room and right to a cabinet on the other side of the wall. It was strewn with picture frames. Stiles followed the other boy silently, not wanting to disturb his resolution and he saw Isaac picking out a few choice frames. One of a woman with similar blond hair, one of a young man in a military uniform, and one of his whole family, all smiling, Isaac not older than six or seven. The boy then moved out of the living room and up the stairs, sparing the remains of the door leading to the basement not even the slightest glance. Again Stiles had to applaud Isaac for his strength and resolution to get this over with. 

The two made their way up the stairs and into the bedroom that obviously belonged to Isaac. When they entered the room the boy turned to Stiles for the first time. 

“Uhmm, in the closet are a few bags… I don’t want to take a lot of things, just…” the boy stopped, looking around his room and heaved a sigh.

“Hey, Isaac, it’s alright” Stiles reassured the boy, walking over to his side and taking the box out of his arms. Stiles could see the fear beneath the façade of strength in Isaac’s eyes. “You don’t have to be strong all the time. That’s why I’m here with you. Just tell me what I should pack up for you.” Isaac nodded tersely and moved to sit down on his old bed. Stiles moved to the closet and pulled out the bags Isaac had talked about.

One by one Isaac told Stiles what to put into the bags, taking down the posters from his walls and rolling them up to transport them better. 

Stiles walked around the room mostly in silence, letting Isaac lead him to the things he wanted to have in his new life, not questioning any of the other boy’s choices. Not even when Isaac told him to pack up the spelling bee trophy or the paper maché dinosaur. He had to admit, the dinosaur was pretty cool. He just wanted to help his friend, and he didn’t want to make it harder on the boy than it already was. 

When three bags were filled with various items Isaac grew silent. Stiles moved over to sit next to Isaac on the bed. The curly haired boy held another picture frame in his hands, looking at the picture of a woman and a little boy, of Isaac and his mother. Stiles could immediately see the resemblance. 

The pair was silent for a few moments, just sitting next to each other on the bed, until Isaac looked up and at Stiles.

“Do you miss her sometimes? Your mom, I mean” he asked quietly, and Stiles was taken aback by the question.

“Wha- Yes, yes I do. Every day” he admitted, looking down at the picture frame in Isaac’s hand. Unconsciously the boy was stroking his thumb over the picture of his mother, something Stiles did as well sometimes. 

“I used to tell her everything... and after she died, I would sometimes visit her grave and just talk about what happened… every night before going to sleep I would look at the picture of her in the living room, telling her good night… When I left to live with Derek, I was scared I would never be able to do that anymore. I was scared I would forget what she looked like” Isaac kept talking, and Stiles wondered if this was the first time he had ever talked about his mother. But maybe Isaac was only now opening up because he knew that Stiles would be able to relate.

“I do that as well. Visit my mom on the cemetery. I talk to her about stuff in school, and how annoying Scott still is, and how everything changed after Scott was bitten. How I found a second family with the pack” Stiles admitted, and he knew why Isaac had chosen him to talk to about his mom. Stiles knew exactly how Isaac felt. “But I’m still scared I will forget what she looks like. Or sound like. Every year on my birthday, I watch a home video my dad took when I turned five. Just to remember what my mom sounds like.” 

Isaac looked up from the picture frame, and the look on his face made Stiles want to cry and hug the boy at the same time. But there was a small glint in Isaac’s eyes that showed the boy would be okay. 

Isaac placed the frame in the box with the other frames, then moved over to his desk and opened one of the drawers. He rummaged through the contents until he came up with what he had been looking for - an audio cassette.

“My mom had to go out of town for work sometimes. She would always read a bedtime story to me, every night, and for the nights she wasn’t home she recorded herself, so I could still hear her voice while falling asleep” he explained and the smile on the boy’s face was reaching from ear to ear. Stiles was certain he had never seen anyone beam this brightly.

“Thank you, Stiles.”

“Not for that, puppy. Not for that.”

***

Stiles and Isaac loaded up the bags and boxes not long after and Isaac released a large sigh once he sat in the car.

“Everything okay?” Stiles asked and the other boy nodded.

“Yes, I’m fine. I’m glad I came here today. And thanks for coming with me” he replied and Stiles smiled slightly.

“I told you it’s not a problem. We’re pack, we’re family. You won’t get rid of me this easily” he said and made Isaac chuckle.

“I’m glad you’re pack, Stiles. You make everyone happy and feel better” Isaac replied and Stiles shrugged.

“Well, what can you do?! I’m just pretty awesome” he said jokingly and Isaac shook his head with a smile.

“No, I mean it. You’re there for all of us, and you kick ass. And you make everyone happy, even Derek. It’s good you’re part of the pack” Isaac repeated and Stiles felt his cheeks heat up slightly. He wasn’t the best with being complimented like this.

“Well, someone has to do that, right?” he replied, trying to play it down how much Isaac’s word meant to him. He had never thought he was all that important to the pack, but what Isaac had said made him reevaluate things. 

“Yeah, someone has to do it” Isaac agreed. “Where are you going? The preserve is in the other direction” the boy asked once he noticed they weren’t driving in the direction of the new Hale house.

“I know. I thought it would be nice to say hey to our moms before we head back to the house. What do you think? Did your mom have a favorite kind of flower?” Stiles wasn’t sure if the look on Isaac’s face meant he was going to cry or laugh. It turned out to be a smile.

“Daisies. My mom loved Daisies.”


	5. Chapter 5

“I wondered what all the bread was going to be for!” Sheriff Stilinski said with a smile when he entered the kitchen the day of the move. Stiles was standing at the counter, surrounded by condiments and various kinds of cheese and cold cuts, preparing sandwiches for lunch for the pack. “It looks like you’re preparing to feed an army, Stiles.” 

Stiles chuckled at his father’s words. He had started to think the same. There didn’t seem to be an end to all the bread he had bought.

“Well, you try eating with a pack of werewolves. I’m lucky if I end up getting one sandwich of my own, I kind of have to make this much!” he tried to defend his actions, even though Stiles knew his father was only joking.

“I know what you mean, Stiles, I have seen the pizza boxes when your friends are here! It’s like they eat for double the people they actually are! When are you going to head over to the Hale house?” 

“We’re going to meet at 10. The furniture is supposed to arrive at noon, and Derek wants to have at least a little bit done before that, so there aren’t any boxes standing around in the way for when the moving crew arrives. Should I make you some sandwiches as well? For lunch at the station? You know I don’t like it when you get take out for lunch” Stiles explained and his father heaved a sigh. Stiles was badgering his father more often than not about the food he was eating and his heightened cholesterol level. 

“Yeah, yeah, do what you want. Will you come home again tonight? Before curfew?” Stiles cringed at his father’s words. After Isaac and him had visited their mothers’ graves, they had gone back to the new Hale house and Stiles had ended up getting home way too late for his father’s liking. Even though it was summer break, Stiles still had a curfew, and it would do him good to hold onto it. Only because the Sheriff now knew all about werewolves didn’t mean he was completely comfortable with it yet and liked his son to hang around a bunch of ferocious mythical creatures until late into the night. And Stiles understood where his father’s worries came from. Too much had happened in Beacon Hills concerning the supernatural, it was only natural for his father to want to keep his only son safe.

“Uhm, I actually don’t know. We might just all crash at the house after moving all the stuff. But I’ll text you if I stay over, and if I do, I’ll definitely come home tomorrow night, and in time to have dinner with you, deal?” 

“You know I don’t mind you being with your friends, Stiles, I just want you to be-“

“Safe, I know. And I am. I have a baseball bat in my car in case any of the wolves try doing anything stupid.”

******

“You know, I thought moving stuff with a bunch of werewolves would be easier” Stiles moaned after he had lifted the third chair out of the trailer of the delivery service and had carried it towards the porch.

“Well, if you didn’t bitch all the time, we might move a bit faster, idiot” Jackson told him from behind him, but shut up when the beta heard a low growl come from the inside of the furniture trailer.

“I’m just saying that it would be easier if you guys could just each grab a part of the couch and move it inside at once instead of pretending to be weak little teenagers who can’t lift anything” Stiles further complained. “Really, my arms feel like spaghetti.”

“That’s because you have the muscle built of a five year old, Stiles. You are a weak teenager” Jackson said once more and received a kick to the leg from Stiles. The pair moved back to the trailer to receive the next piece of furniture from Derek. The alpha handed Jackson a packet of the office cabinets that would have to be assembled later. He then turned back and looked for something Stiles could carry back to the porch – and ended up handing the boy a sofa cushion.

“Seriously? Lydia gets the last chair for the dining room and I get a cushion? Is that a joke to you?” Stiles argued, not quite believing what he had been handed.

“You said your arms were hurting, so it’s your own fault. You shouldn’t have complained” was all Derek said in explanation and then turned back to move the furniture packets from further in the back to the lip of the trailer for the next person to take.

Stiles huffed once more but moved towards the house, cushion in his arms, receiving chuckles and giggles from the rest of the pack.

“Is the furniture too heavy for little Stiles?” Isaac asked when he saw his friend holding the cushion, receiving a glare from the boy in question.

“Don’t say anything or I’ll call you puppy for the rest of the day, puppy!” Stiles replied, earning a snicker from Scott.

“For the last time, I’m not a puppy!” Isaac exclaimed, and the rest of the pack erupted in laughter.

“Yes you are, Isaac, you can’t deny it!”

***

After the delivery man had left with his truck, the move quickened rapidly. Each of the wolves grabbed a large piece of furniture from the porch and moved it inside to their designated spot in the house and it hadn’t even been 15 minutes until everything was inside and where it belonged.

The pack sat down on the floor of the room that would later become the dining room, the only room where no furniture was in yet, because the dining table hadn’t been finished yet, and Stiles unpacked the heaps of sandwiches he had made earlier that morning. 

Over sodas and cheese and ham sandwiches, the pack planned how to go about the rest of the day.

“I would suggest Isaac, Erica and Scott stay behind and start on assembling all the furniture” Derek announced, turning his gaze to the three betas, “start with the furniture in the office, the sitting room and Isaac’s room, those are the more important rooms for now.” The alpha then turned to the rest of his pack. “Lydia, I want you to go shopping for groceries. Take Jackson and Boyd with you, they will help you carry the bags. I want a somewhat stocked kitchen and pantry at the end of the day. I don’t want to eat another pizza for at least two weeks!” he ordered, and the betas snickered at Derek’s words. Sometimes the wolf could be hilarious without even intending to!

“And what about Stiles? Is he just going to lie around on the couch?” Jackson immediately complained after Derek had finished. While he loved Lydia dearly, he didn’t like the prospect of having to go shopping with the girl.

“Stiles is coming with me, I need his car” Derek replied simply. At that Stiles perked up.

“My car? What do you want with my car? Don’t even think about hurting my baby!” the boy exclaimed and earned chuckles from all sides. Sometimes, Stiles acted really weird. No, he always acted weird.

“I’m not going to ‘hurt’ your car. I need to pick something up and it won’t fit into my car, so we’ll have to take yours” Derek said, sounding slightly exasperated. Even though he had grown accustomed to Stiles and his weird behavior, he was still annoyed with him from time to time. 

“Well, okay, but don’t even think about driving my baby! No one drives baby other than myself!”

***

After the pack had finished their lunch they divided into the designated groups and made their way either up the stairs to assemble Isaac’s new furniture or outside to drive to the grocery store. Derek had given Lydia his credit card to buy the food with, but had made her promise not to buy unnecessary things. Lydia had given him a look that clearly said the alpha was stupid for even thinking Lydia would buy unnecessary things.

After the two wolves and Lydia had left in Jackson’s car, Derek and Stiles made their way outside and to Stiles’ Jeep. Even after growling at the boy Stiles still wouldn’t hand over the car keys and held true to his word that no one other than himself would ever drive his car. Begrudgingly Derek sat down on the passenger’s side and guided Stiles through the town towards the industrial area of Beacon Hills.

“Where exactly are we going?” Stiles asked after ten minutes of driving in silence apart from Derek gibing directions.

“To my storage unit” Derek replied without further explaining his words.

“You have a storage unit? What is in there?” 

“Yes I have a storage unit. It stores my stuff.”

“You have stuff?”

“Of course I have things! Do you think I didn’t buy anything in the last six years?” Derek growled at the stupidity Stiles displayed. Had the boy really thought Derek didn’t own anything other than the clothes on his back? He had lived in New York for six years, he had started a life there, of course he owned things!

“Well, I’m sorry; you don’t have to bitch at me, oh almighty alpha! How should I have known that you have stuff locked up in a storage unit?” Stiles defended himself, earning himself another growl at the nickname. 

The two arrived at the storage unit shortly after and Derek got out of the car, taking out a set of keys from his pocket and opened a large metal door, revealing about ten moving boxes along with a few pieces of furniture.

“Dude, while my car is absolutely amazing, it’s not magic. All this stuff is never going to fit inside” Stiles piped up from behind Derek and the alpha turned to glare at Stiles. Really, today the boy was trying especially hard to get on the man’s nerves!

“Don’t be such an idiot! We’re not taking everything! Some of the things- some of the things belong to Laura. I still haven’t gone through them. We’re just going to take the boxes with my stuff back to the house and then we’ll come back for the furniture and the rest some other time” Derek explained, his voice void of any emotions.

This was probably the first time Derek had talked about his sister since the day he had found out she had died. Stiles suddenly felt really stupid for having such a big mouth. He knew how hard it was to go through the things of people that had passed away. His mother had died almost ten years ago and the boxes with her things were still in the attic, untouched.

“Well, I guess that’s not that bad, then. We can always come back next week or so and rent a trailer so we can get the furniture as well” Stiles said, trying to ease the tension that had settled between the alpha and the teenager. Derek cleared his throat and turned back to the boxes in the storage unit.

“Yeah… yeah, that’s a good idea. I won’t have to pay for the unit anymore, then” he said, just to fill the silence, and then moved into the storage unit to sort out the boxes they would take with them that day.

Stiles didn’t really know what he was supposed to do. Should he just wait until Derek had gathered the things he wanted to take, or was he supposed to help? In the end Stiles figured it would be best to let Derek get through his things on his own. Even though the pack was growing closer and was becoming more of a unit lately, the alpha still hadn’t opened up to his betas and the humans in the pack. Not much at least. It would be a serious breach of boundaries for Stiles to just go and look through Derek’s things. 

Nope, he would just wait until Derek was done. 

***  
When Derek and Stiles returned to the Hale house they were surprised at how quiet it was. Of course, all of the pack members had gotten tasks to do for the time the alpha was gone, but still it concerned the older man that he didn’t hear anything from the betas.

Warily Derek got out of the car, followed by Stiles, and the alpha moved around the car to open the trunk and lift out the first of five boxes. Stiles had been surprised that all of them had fitted into his car, explaining that his Jeep was ‘absolutely magical and awesome’. Derek had rolled his eyes at the words, but hadn’t said anything. He was just glad that they were able to get all of the stuff he had intended to take with them in one go. Derek would only have to go back once, with a trailer, and get the rest of his belongings and he would have the last remains of his sister close with him again. She had been the only family he had had for six years and it was important to him to keep at least the memory of her close by. Even though he had a new pack now, he would always miss his family, his parents, his sisters and brothers, even his annoying cousins…

Derek took out one of the boxes and handed it to Stiles who was standing next to him at the back of the car, then lifted two more boxes out, stacking one over the other and carrying them at the same time. 

Derek noticed Lydia wasn’t back from shopping with Boyd and Jackson, which would be an explanation for him not hearing the girl commandeering everyone around to do what she wanted. Derek would really have to work with Lydia to tone down her bossiness. Yes, everyone was allowed to have their own character, but everything had to be in moderation. He wanted all of his betas to feel comfortable in his pack, and he wasn’t sure if that was a given if Lydia kept on appearing to be superior to others. They were all equal in his mind, no matter if they were wolves or humans, intelligent or stupid as hell. 

But that didn’t explain why he didn’t hear anything from the other three werewolves. There ought to be quarreling between Erica and Isaac, who behaved like siblings more often than not, or Scott moaning about how he was useless with a hammer. Or complaining about missing Allison, which in turn would make the air tight because Isaac would be uncomfortable with talk about the girl that had stabbed him only a few weeks earlier. But nothing. He heard nothing from them.

Derek was starting to get slightly nervous. He had experienced too many bad things not to think that something horrible was going on. Something could have attacked the betas while he had been gone, and even though they weren’t on their own, they weren’t strong enough yet to defend themselves if someone really wanted to get to them.

Derek quickened his paces to get to the front door and with a shove of the shoulder he opened the door. As soon as Derek stepped foot into his new home he knew why he hadn’t heard anything from his betas. A scowl settled on his face and stoically Derek moved further inside and set down the boxes he was carrying on the entry way.

“What are you doing here?” he asked lowly.

“Me? I’m carrying your damn stuff, what do you think I’m doing?” Stiles argued, huffing and setting the box he was carrying next to the other two. Derek threw him a glare but turned to the other side of the hallway again.

“Not you” he said to Stiles, then walked through the hall and into the room that would later become his bedroom.

“What do you want here?” Derek asked again and the man standing opposite him looking out of the large French windows turned to look at his nephew.

“Am I not allowed to visit my dear nephew in his new home?” Peter asked snarkily, the smirk on his face irritating Derek. 

“Not if I’m not here” Derek replied, the scowl still secure on his face.

“Now, now, dear nephew, is this the way to treat a relative?” 

“If he tried to kill you, and is supposed to be dead, then yes.”

“Oh hush you, little alpha. I have to admit I’m hurt. You build such a wonderful home where my old one used to be, and you don’t even invite me to stay here with you.” Peter moved through the room smoothly and passed Derek in the doorway, walking towards the kitchen, where he leaned against the cooking island that separated the kitchen from the sitting room. 

“No one wants you here. That’s why you’re not living here” Stiles said from where he was still standing in the hallway, his arms crossed across his chest. Peter chuckled and looked at Stiles.

“I see you have your little human trained perfectly, Derek. Your own little guard dog. I wonder how your dog would fare playing with a wolf.” A growl and flash of red eyes stopped Peter from saying anything else against Stiles.

“I see. The alpha is very protective of his pet human. Well, everyone needs to have a weak spot…”

“If your talking is trying to make me question my position in the pack, you can talk until you die… again” Stiles said, and Derek could hear the agitation in the boy’s voice. It seemed no one liked Peter anywhere near them. Not that he could hold that against anyone. Peter was a nuisance!

“I’m not trying to do anything. I just wanted to congratulate Derek here on accomplishing to bring his little pack of wolf toddlers together. It really is a cute picture, seeing all of you here, together, like one little happy family” Peter continued to bug them, but Derek had enough. He growled once more and moved towards his uncle.

“If you are here just to cause a riot, then you can leave to where you came from. Actually, you can’t leave, period. I don’t want you threatening my pack” the alpha said lowly, but Peter’s smirk stayed where it was.

“Don’t worry dear nephew. You won’t even notice I’m here. I’m just going to continue looking at this new house of yours and then I’m going to make myself comfortable in the sun. Call me when dinner’s ready!” And with these words Peter slipped away from Derek and moved to another part of the house. 

“Dude, your uncle is creepy” Stiles remarked and Derek turned to glare at the boy. He didn’t need to hear that from anyone, Derek knew that already. Without a word to Stiles Derek rushed up the stairs and right to Isaac’s room, where he smelled his three betas were. He opened the door and found Scott, Isaac and Erica sitting on the floor, trying their mightiest to be as quiet as possible while assembling Isaac’s new dresser.

“Did he do something?” Derek asked as soon as he saw his betas. They all looked up at him and shook their heads.

“No, but he’s creepy. He told us to be quiet or he would do to us what he did to the school bus driver a few months ago” Scott explained and a flash of red crossed Derek’s eyes. How dare Peter threaten his pack?!

“What did he mean with that anyway?” Erica piped up. Out of the three of them, she seemed to be the least shaken.

“You don’t want to know” Scott simply said, and the smile vanished from the girl’s lips.

“He’s not going to do anything. Not on my watch” Derek growled, “Or he will die trying.” At Isaac’s wide eyes Derek ruffled the younger boy’s hair and tried to smile reassuringly.

It was a rare sight to see Derek showing emotions, but he was trying, really trying. He wanted his pack to be happy and content, to be a real family and if that meant he had to open up a bit more, then so be it. He would try everything to make this pack work. He had led his first pack, his family, into ruin, into death; he would rather die before he let his new pack down like that as well. 

“Good, well, continue assembling the furniture, okay? I doubt Isaac’s going to sleep in his new bed tonight, but it would be nice to have it at least ready” Derek said, his voice calmed down again. He would have to keep his temper in check, or he would push his betas away again. This couldn’t happen again, it just couldn’t. “I’ll call you when it’s time for dinner, okay?” When his betas nodded, Derek turned and left to go downstairs again. In all the haste to make sure that his pack was fine, he had completely forgotten that there were still two boxes in Stiles’ car that were too heavy for the boy to lift. 

Downstairs, Derek saw Peter getting comfortable on the sun deck outside and found Stiles trying to arrange the pieces of the couch in the movie room.

“If you wait two minutes I can help you with that” he said from the door way, making the teenager jump.

“Don’t do that! Don’t frighten me like that!” Stiles exclaimed, clutching his chest and he sunk down onto the part of couch he was shoving to its designated spot. “Are the guys upstairs fine? Peter the Wolf didn’t eat them?” 

“No, they are fine, a bit intimidated, but fine” the alpha replied and Stiles nodded his head.

“Good, that’s good” he simply said, then got back up from his seat and started shoving pieces of couch again. “There are still two boxes in my car” he said without looking at Derek.

“Yeah, I know, I’ll get them now.” With that Derek turned on the spot and left for the car.

When he came back inside with the last two boxes Derek saw Peter walking into the movie room, where Stiles was still arranging the couch. He set down the boxes, but didn’t move to interfere.

“You know, if it came to it, Peter the Wolf would rather eat Little Red Riding Hood” Peter said and Derek knew exactly who the man meant. Stiles was wearing a bright red t-shirt. But Derek knew Stiles wasn’t intimidated by Peter. He had faced the rogue wolf more often that necessary, and the teenager knew how to defend and protect himself.

“You can talk all you want, Peter, you know as well as I do that you would never harm me. Derek would kill you before you even thought about it, and I have to admit that I, too, have a vast collection of Wolfsbane under my bed. If push comes to shove, you would be the one suffering, trust me” Derek heard Stiles reply and he had to admit that he was impressed with how calm Stiles was even though he had been clearly threatened by the wolf. A small smirk grazed Derek’s features. He was a bit proud to call Stiles a member of his pack.

***

Half an hour later Derek heard a car approaching the house. He left the office, where he had started assembling a desk, and walked out the front door, greeting Lydia, Jackson and Boyd from the porch.

As soon as the three teenagers left the car the alpha knew something was up, and his suspicions were confirmed when Jackson approached him with a scowl on his face that could rival Derek’s own. 

“Don’t ever send me out to go grocery shopping with her again!” he growled and moved inside and up the stairs. 

“I really don’t know what is up with him. Our shopping trip went perfectly fine. We got all the things you put on the list as well as a few things I thought would be necessary to have in a kitchen that you forgot. And you said you wanted to have quality products. So it wasn’t my fault that we had to go to four different stores” Lydia explained herself and Derek could see why Jackson was a little tense. He wouldn’t have fared better, the opposite probably!

“Well, you’re back now, so we can start on dinner soon. Let’s just get these things inside and move on” Derek tried to keep calm, but Lydia just had something about her that rubbed him the wrong way. Where Stiles’ being annoying Derek could deal with, he certainly could not cope with Lydia’s behavior. At least not for long. 

“Yes, or else the ice-cream is going to melt. And we really don’t want molten ice cream!” Lydia stated, then moved around the car and opened the car doors and trunk to get access to the many bags in the car. Boyd moved quietly to the back as well and started pulling out bags, carrying them inside without saying a word, which was probably for the best. Lydia on a rampage was a force to be reckoned with!

Derek copied Boyd’s motions and started carrying the groceries inside, where Lydia started putting the things away in cabinets and the fridge and freezer. She ordered Stiles to come and help her, shoving a bag into his hands that was filled with all kinds of things that were to be stored in the laundry room. Derek decided to just go along with what Lydia said. Just for this once, but he really didn’t have the nerve to argue with Lydia. The day had been stressful, from moving to going through Laura’s stuff to being pestered by Peter, he really just wanted the day to end quietly.

Once everything was put away, Derek moved out of the patio door and looked for the new barbeque set that had been delivered the day before. The alpha had figured that after a day of moving furniture and boxes, and with such hot weather, there was nothing better than a good old fashioned barbeque.

“Is dinner ready soon? I’m starving!” Peter piped from where he had moved to lie on the lawn, hashing up the last rays of light before the sun sunk below the tree line. 

“Who said you get anything to eat. You aren’t pack” Derek replied, eyes not moving from the grill station. It was a modern grill, with all kinds of safety precautions that usually were only needed if you had little children around. But with the history Derek had with fire, nothing was safe enough for him. 

“Again, nephew, I’m hurt! Why would you say that we are not pack? I helped you get rid of the lizard! You should be thankful that I was there to help!” 

“I might be thankful that you were there to help, if hiding behind a pillar for most of the fight can be considered helping, but that doesn’t make you pack. You tried to kill practically everyone here, why would I want to have you in my pack?” 

“Hey, I didn’t try to kill your golden trio of betas! You gotta give me that!”

“That’s because they were gone when you came back and Isaac had constant protection from you! And now shut up if you want to stay here for dinner.” With that Derek moved back inside, where Lydia and Stiles were now leaning at the counter, Lydia telling the boy how horribly exasperating it was to go shopping with Jackson, who just wouldn’t see reason that some produce had to be gotten at another store. 

If Derek had to be honest, he would have been fine if the guys had gotten everything from one store. 

“Let’s get started on dinner. Peter is annoying me and I want him to be gone as soon as possible” Derek said, interrupting Lydia’s spiel mid-sentence.

“Peter?! What-what is he doing here?” Lydia’s voice rose an octave and the girl’s hand curled around the edge of the counter. Before Derek could answer the girl Stiles had already pried her hand from her grip on the counter and held it in his.

“Hey, it’s okay? Creeper Peter is not going to get close to you, or I’ll shoot him with a Wolfsbane bullet, okay? He just showed up earlier, scared the others and annoyed the crap out of Derek. He’s not going to do anything to you, as long as I’m here. And tomorrow we will start setting you up with a bit of Wolfsbane and Mountain Ash, just to be safe. Or if you want to have your peace and quiet from Jackson!” the teenager calmed her, even eliciting a small chuckle.

“Okay, but keep him away from me. I don’t want to be near him ever again!” 

“Trust me, no one wants to be near Peter!”

*** 

Apart from Lydia trying to avoid even looking at Peter, dinner was a calm and comfortable event. Because they didn’t have a table large enough to seat them all, the pack quickly decided they would leave all the salads and condiments in the kitchen and then sit down on blankets outside on the floor. Lydia was the only one who wasn’t too thrilled with the prospect of sitting on the floor, but after Jackson had given her his jacket to sit on, she was at least somewhat content. 

Looking at his pack sitting together, talking about everything and anything and having fun together, Derek got the feeling that maybe this would all work out fine. With the threat of the Argents gone for now, there really wasn’t anything the pack had to be concerned about other than being pack. Which was good. They needed the down time, to grow strong, to train and become better wolves, to try and understand each other, to become a family. 

“Guys, I really like you, but if you continue to steal the fries from my plate, I’m going to cut your arms of! Go and eat salad, you need the vitamins” Stiles exclaimed just then and Derek saw three hands spring back from where they were near the human’s plate. 

“But Stiles, I don’t like salad!” Scott moaned, trying to inch his hand back towards the plate that was heaped with fries. 

“I don’t care! Your mom will yell at me if she hears you only ate steak and fries!” Stiles rebutted, slapping away the hand.

“But-“

“Scott, eat your salad!”

“Yes mom!”

The dinner continued on with banter being heard from here and there, but you could see that every individual was content with where they were in that moment. As far as pack building went, this was a clear success.

After every piece of meat was devoured, the plates cleared away in the dish washer and the left over salads put away in the fridge, the pack moved into the movie room, seeing as that was the room with actual sitting possibilities. Once everyone was settled on the couch, with the exception of Peter, who had left after dinner was over, not even helping with clearing away the plates, it was silent for a moment, until Jackson let out a sigh.

“We don’t even have a TV yet to watch a movie on” he complained and received a kick to the leg for it.

“We don’t have to watch movies all the time! I’m sure we can find something else to do” Isaac said with a frown on his face.

“Aww, puppy, you are so cute, you always want everyone to be happy!” Erica cooed at that and in turn received a kick as well.

“I told you not to call me that!” 

“But Isaac, you are so cute all the time, it’s impossible not to call you puppy!” Stiles replied, pulling at Isaac’s sweater so the younger wolf fell backwards into Stiles’ lap.

“But Jackson is right. We can’t watch a movie, ‘cause we don’t have a TV yet. Any idea what we could do instead?” Scott asked once everyone had calmed down again after laughing about Isaac falling backwards.

“Well, I have an idea, but we might not be enough people” Stiles started, then looked around the pack quickly. “Actually, it might work after all. Does anyone have a piece of paper and a pen?” 

“Uhh, no. We just moved” Jackson sneered, and Stiles glared at the wolf.

“Whatever! I have to do everything by myself” Stiles mumbled to himself. He shoved Isaac from his lap, then moved to get up and out of the movie room. A moment later the front door was opened only to be closed a minute or two later again. Stiles reentered the room, a back pack in his hand.

“Stiles, why do you have your back pack with you? Where did you get it from?” Scott asked his best friend.

“From my car.”

“You had your school bag in your car? Why?” Erica asked as well

“Because I have summer break! I haven’t touched it since school let out! What are you doing during summer break?!” Stiles replied and earned a chuckle from Isaac and Scott. The boy pulled out a notebook and a pen and started scribbling on a piece of paper, then ripping little pieces off and folding them. He made two piles of folded notes, then looked back up at the rest of the pack. 

“We are going to play Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow!” he exclaimed and Erica burst out laughing.

“How ironic is that?! I haven’t played that game since 6th grade! Aren’t we a few people short for that game?” she said between gasps of laughter, but Stiles shook his head.

“We’ll make it work. Let’s at least play one round and then we’ll see if we’re enough” he looked back into the round of wolves, and one human girl. “You know the game?” Everyone nodded.”Good. We’ll have two wolves, because we’re so few people, a seer, a little girl and a pair of lovers. The lovers will be assigned with the second pile, after everyone has their first character. Who wants to be the moderator?” 

“I can do it” Boyd said from where he sat behind Erica.

“Good! Let’s all sit in a circle. The pack moved around the room to sit in a circle, Boyd and Stiles switching seats so the dark skinned wolf had the piles of character cards next to him. He then started passing around the character notes until there were none left. Once everyone had looked at their note, Boyd moved to pull two names out of the second pile.

“Well, it seems like the lovers are… Stiles and Derek” he announced and the room erupted in giggles, which were stopped short when the alpha, or one of the lovers, growled deeply.

“How very cute” Lydia noted, but no one else dared to say something else.

It turned out Stiles and Derek weren’t only the lovers, but also the two wolves, and together they ‘slayed’-according to Stiles- the other characters. In the end both wolves were the only remaining characters, with the little girl-Isaac-as their last victim. 

After that one round the pack realized that there were just not enough people to play a good round of werewolves, and packed away Stiles’ notebook again. They continued talking about everything that came to mind, but soon came to the realization that the day had been long and exhausting and it would really do them no good to stay up much longer. 

With their minds made up, the pack moved upstairs and into different rooms to get ready for the night. Stiles was one of the first back down and he started pulling sheets and pillows out of one of the many shopping bags Lydia and Erica had filled on the trips to the furniture shop and Home Depot. He carried the pillows and blankets back into the movie room and dumped them on the couch island, then crawled on top of them and wrapped himself up in a sheet.

Stiles heard the rest of the pack arrive back downstairs and crawl on the couch as well. He felt Erica snuggle close to his side and Isaac wedge himself in between his honorary sister and the human. One after the other found their spot on the couch, tangled into sheets and pack mates, and fell asleep not soon after. 

Derek arrived back in the movie room last after closing and locking all of the doors and checking over the kitchen. Seeing his pack tangled together in one large mess of bodies made him incredibly happy. This was pack, the closeness, the sharing of space and comfort. A wave of pride washed over Derek and he realized that he and his betas were well on their way to becoming a solid pack.

With that thought in mind Derek crawled onto the couch as well, in the space in the middle that was left open for the leader of the pack. As soon as he lay down, all of the bodies unconsciously moved closer to their alpha, seeking warmth and safety. 

Derek had never thought he would be able to experience such sense of belonging again. 

***   
Stiles woke up the next morning, feeling hot on one side of his body, and cold on the other. He lifted his head slightly to find out why this was the case, and found the left half of his body covered by Isaac, his right however without any wolf curled against. Stiles frowned. He had been certain that Derek had laid next to him during the night, having distinctly heard a low growl come from next to him that could only have belonged to the alpha. 

And he also might have curled closer to the older man in a state of being half asleep. He couldn’t have helped it, his body had sought warmth, and the alpha’s body was by far the one that emanated the most body heat. And maybe Stiles unconscious had sought out Derek’s body for another reason. You couldn’t deny that the pack’s alpha was attractive, and even though Stiles hadn’t paid it any mind, he did have a slight crush on their leader. It didn’t bother him that he found Derek appealing, and it didn’t hurt anyone else, so for now Stiles wouldn’t think about this little tidbit of information that was stored in the back of the teen’s head. And it wasn’t as if it was reciprocated in any way, so thinking about it would really only waste time.

It wasn’t something he could fight, and really, he didn’t want to; it was just… there…

Still, the cold on one side of his body made it impossible for Stiles to fall asleep again, and seeing as the sun was already shining outside it wasn’t the worst idea to get up anyway. Stiles knew his pack mates, they would demand breakfast as soon as they woke up. Breakfast, that Stiles would have to make. Somehow he had ended up being the one to cook for the pack. Not that he really minded, Stiles liked cooking well enough, and his pack always appreciated what he made for them.

So Stiles crawled out of the heaps of blankets and bodies, making sure that Isaac’s head rested on a pillow after being shoved away from Stiles’ stomach, and made his way out of the movie room and towards the kitchen. The sun was already shining in full force, something Stiles hadn’t realized in the slightly darkened movie room.

Entering the kitchen from the sitting room, Stiles noticed the patio door was already standing open. He assumed Derek had moved to sit outside instead of in the kitchen. Well, you couldn’t really sit in the kitchen yet anyway, because they still didn’t have any tables. The dining room and kitchen tables would only be delivered the next week. Until then, the pack would have to make do.

Before heading out himself, Stiles poured himself a large cup of coffee that already sat ready to be consumed on the counter. If Derek was good at one thing in the kitchen, it was at making a mean coffee. Even though Stiles preferred to drink the beverage sweetened with creamer and syrup, he would gladly drink the coffee Derek made without adding anything to it.

Stiles then walked out the doors and onto the patio, where he found Derek sitting at the lip of the terrace, looking out onto the forest that bordered the lawn on the far side of the yard. 

Stiles let himself down next to the alpha, soaking in the early morning sun and enjoying the silence before the rest of the pack woke up.

Eventually he looked over at the alpha, though.

“You were up early” he simply stated, and Derek shrugged in reply.

“Yeah, you talk in your sleep. You can’t really keep sleeping when someone rambles on next to you” he explained, and Stiles chuckled at what he was told.

“Well, if you have such a brilliant mind such as myself, you can’t really stop talking, ever. You have to make room for the next bout of genius, and that kind of happens in my sleep sometimes” he said jokingly. He sobered up quickly though. “But I’m sorry it woke you up. Yesterday was a long day, you should have been able to sleep in like the rest of the wolves.”

“It’s okay. There is no use in sleeping through the entire day. We still have to set up the rest of the furniture before this house is even close to ready to have someone live in. I would have woken you up soon anyway. If the betas get to sleep in for too long, they’ll be horribly hyperactive for the rest of the day. And I can really only deal with one hyperactive person per day” Derek said, shooting the boy next to him a look, making Stiles know exactly who Derek was talking about. 

“I feel honored knowing I have a special place in your heart!” Stiles joked again, and Derek shook his head at how ridiculous Stiles was behaving. “But anyway, I’m going to start on breakfast, so it’ll be done once the others wake up.” With that Stiles got back up from his seat and moved back inside into the kitchen. He put his mug down on the counter and started pulling out bowls and ingredients for his special pancakes. The pack loved them.

Ten minutes later Derek walked inside from the patio as well, his coffee mug now empty in his hands. He sat it down in the sink and then made his way to start pulling out plates and cutlery and set it on the counter. They would just have to sit back on the floor for breakfast again, even if Lydia wouldn’t like it.

“So, should we go back to your storage unit in a few days, get the rest of your boxes and furniture? I could ask my dad if he knows anyone with a trailer we could rent” Stiles asked while whisking the batter for the pancakes.

“Yeah… that would be a good idea… then we’ll be done with that” Derek muttered his reply, almost to low in volume for Stiles to hear what he was saying.

“Good, then I’ll ask my dad later today when I’m home and tell you what he said” Stiles stated, turning back to his batter, trying to dissolve the slight tension that had risen as soon as he had mentioned the rest of Derek’s belongings. It seemed the alpha was still reluctant, maybe even a little bit scared to go through his sister’s things and come to terms that she really wasn’t there with him anymore.


	6. Chapter 6

Two days later, a Monday, found Derek and Stiles driving back to the storage unit, a trailer hooked up to Stiles’ beloved truck. The boy had suggested another wolf come with them, or Derek just going with another wolf, because it would be easier to load everything if there were two people able to lift ridiculously heavy items of furniture, but Derek had declined. He didn’t want to keep the rest of the wolves from their training, which consisted of chasing each other through the preserve, so it was just Stiles who accompanied him.

“You know, I might have wanted to join in the running through the preserve” Stiles quipped, trying to sound offended that he had been excluded from the pack activity in order to help Derek move his stuff. In reality, he didn’t mind. He knew he would never be able to keep up with the wolves, and he didn’t necessarily like the thought of staying behind with Lydia. Even though they had started their rocky path of becoming really good friends, Stiles knew Lydia would say or do something that would drive him mad sooner or later. How he could have had a crush on the girl for so long he didn’t understand anymore. 

Derek snorted hearing Stiles’ nagging. He turned his head to look at the boy driving the car and trying to keep a pout on his face.

“I’m pretty sure you would fall over a branch in the first five minutes and had to be taken to the emergency room. I think it’s better for all the parties involved that you are coming with me” he said drily, and Stiles shot the older man a glare.

“I am very agile, just so you know” he noted, then turned back to watch the road. “Like a rabbit, always sidestepping left and right.”

“If you’re the rabbit, then you would probably end up being chased by a pack of wolves sooner or later. And now shut up and drive” Derek replied, ending the conversation. Stiles huffed. He would have liked to keep this talk going for a little longer. He liked seeing Derek try and be funny, or sarcastic at least. The pack didn’t get to see that side of their alpha very often. In fact, Stiles guessed some had never seen that side of Derek before. It seemed the alpha only let his humorous side out with certain people, namely Isaac and Stiles. 

Stiles would lie if he said this didn’t make him feel at least a little bit special. He was in Derek Hale’s ‘inner circle’. At least he told himself that!

Once they had arrived at the storage unit, the pair made quick work of loading the rest of the boxes and furniture into the trailer. 

“You know, whenever I thought about the furniture in here, I always imagined there would be a grandfather clock. Don’t ask me why, I just felt like you would be the person to have a random grandfather clock standing around somewhere” Stiles said once there were only a few boxes and a bureau left in the storage unit. Derek turned to look at the teenager, looking incredulous.

“Why would I have a grandfather clock?” he asked, his brows raised in question.

“Well, I don’t know, why do you have an old-school bureau?” Stiles asked back, pointing at the piece of furniture in the back of the trailer. At the mention of the secretary Derek’s face lost all emotion.

“Because it was my father’s. It’s one of the few things that survived the fire” he said, and immediately Stiles felt like a complete idiot. He shouldn’t have said anything. He could see that dealing with his past was difficult for Derek, and here Stiles was, practically making fun of him. 

“I-“ Stiles started to say, but Derek held up his hand to stop the teenager from saying anything.

“It’s okay, you didn’t know. After the fire, we put all the things that were rescued from the fire in here, so we wouldn’t have to deal with them back then. Laura and I knew we would come back to Beacon Hills eventually, but for the time being we just wanted to get away from the tragedy… from the guilt. When Laura had told me it was time to come back because of the trouble with the rogue wolf, she had said we would get to going through these things in our own time. Instead I now have to do that on my own as well as going through her stuff from New York” the alpha explained, turning away from Stiles.

Stiles was sure he had never heard Derek say that much, and about his family none the less, in one go. But he could understand that sometimes it wasn’t possible to stop what you wanted to say, especially when you hadn’t talked much about it before. It had been like that the week before when he had talked to Isaac about his mother. It would just all come out sometimes.

“Let’s just… let’s just finish packing up the things and get home again” Derek said gruffly after another moment of silence. Stiles was glad Derek had been the one to engage into the conversation again, and not him. Obviously Derek still had a lot to work through, but it would be on his own terms.

“Yeah, come on, big guy, lug that chest of drawers into the trailer! Grr, you’re the big bad wolf!” Stiles commented, trying to dissolve the tension that was still left in the air. He grabbed a box himself and walked over to the car to push it in the backseat, since the trailer wouldn’t hold much more.

An hour later the pair arrived back at the Hale house. There was no sign of any of the other wolves, so they had to resume to unpacking on their own again. 

“Where do you want to have the things? I’m not down with carrying all the boxes upstairs! Those are heavy for the non-wolfy population” Stiles stated with a chuckle, setting down the box he was carrying on the porch while Derek searched his pockets for a key and opened the front door.

“Put them in my room. I’ll see later where I want to have them” Derek replied, pushing open the door and letting Stiles walk through into the house before him. Stiles did how he was told and carried the box into the large bedroom downstairs. Just as he was about to put it down on the ground, he heard a ripping sound, though, and the bottom of the box gave in. All of the things inside the box came tumbling down and onto the floor.

“Aw, shit!” the teenager exclaimed and crouched down to claw together the various pieces of paper and folders that had been in the box. 

“What happened?” Derek asked from where he entered the room, a side table in his one hand and a high backed chair in another.

“Derek, I’m sorry, man, the box ripped! Really, it’s not my fault, so don’t hit me, or rip my throat out… with your teeth! I’m going to collect everything and just put it on that table there” Stiles rambled, simultaneously collecting the rest of the papers in a pile.

“Shut up, Stiles” Derek growled, set down the furniture he was carrying and then crouched down on the floor next to the boy, helping with collecting all of the things that had been in the box. His hands stopped moving when he spotted a picture sticking out of a stack of legal papers. Stiles noticed Derek freezing up and moved the papers away to reveal a small stack of photographs.

“What are those?” he asked quietly, but the answer was obvious.

“They’re pictures” Derek still stated, and life came back into the man. He lifted the first picture from the stack and locked his gaze on the people depicted. 

“Is that… is that your family?” Stiles continued to ask, but Derek didn’t react. He was focused on the faces of the people in the photograph, his finger moving over the edges.

Stiles moved from looking at Derek to looking at the picture. It looked like a picture taken by someone professional in a photo studio. In the picture Derek was holding where seven people, two children, two teenagers, a young adult, and obviously, their parents. All of them had black hair and were, to be honest, beautiful. All children looked like carbon copies of their parents, the two girls looking very alike, as did the brothers. 

“Derek?” Stiles asked the man, who was still frozen next to Stiles, looking at the photograph. 

“Hmm?” Derek came back to himself, looking up and at Stiles, who was starting to worry about the alpha. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea for him to have to go through all of these things. 

“Is that your family?” Stiles repeated his question from before and Derek nodded.

“Yeah… my mom and dad… and my brothers and sisters” he said, pointing to the children in the picture, first at the oldest of them all, “that’s my older brother Logan” he moved to a girl that looked close in age to the Derek in the picture, “that’s Laura.” Stiles could see the resemblance of the girl Scott and he had found in the woods, which made him quite sad. Before, he had never really associated the dead body with an actual person, but now that he had seen the same person smiling up at him in a picture, it made it all the more real. 

Derek moved on to point at the younger girl, sitting on the lap of the older boy. “That’s Cora, my younger sister. She and Laura used to argue all the time! Cora always wanted Laura to take her with her to everything Laura did. There wasn’t a day where they didn’t fight about the smallest things” he explained, a slight smile edging its way onto his face. Stiles was happy to see that there were still a few fond memories about his family in Derek. It was good to see something about his family causing the werewolf to smile, even if only a little bit. 

The alpha moved his finger to the youngest member of the Hale family, sitting on the younger Derek’s lap. “That’s Tristan… he was only five years old. He hadn’t even started kindergarten yet, but he was so proud of knowing the whole alphabet already” he said and his voice choked up slightly and the trace of joy Stiles had heard when he had talked about his sisters was completely gone now.

Stiles shook his head. How could anyone have done that to a family? To kids? They had been innocent people and still they had died. The anger and hatred Stiles felt bubbling up in his chest surprised the boy a little bit. He hadn’t thought he would be this angry about what Kate Argent had done to the Hale family, had done to Derek. Still, Stiles tried to swallow down his emotions again. There was no use in him getting angry about this; it would only fuel Derek’s emotions. He would have to be positive about the memory of his family, not drown it in sorrow.

“You and your siblings look a lot alike” Stiles said and Derek nodded.

“Yeah, everyone always said Laura and I could be twins, but Laura was always quick to correct them that she was in fact older than me” he said and shook his head slightly, probably caught up in the memory.

“How… how did these pictures survive the fire? I mean…” In hindsight this probably hadn’t been the most sensitive thing to ask, but Stiles couldn’t stop himself. He was happy Derek had these memorabilia of his family, but he still wondered how a stack of pictures could have survived a fire as large as the one that had cost Derek’s family their lives.  
“They had only been taken a week before the fire… My mom hadn’t picked them up yet, so they were still in the photo studio. The owner called Laura when he heard of the fire and we picked them up before we left for New York” Derek explained, not noting on how inappropriate the question had been.

In fact, Derek looked completely defeated in that moment. Stiles had never seen his pack’s alpha look this done with the world. As if he’d just now accepted the fact that he was the last of his immediate family. 

“But it’s great that you have these last moments to remember them by, isn’t it? That it’s not something from years ago, right?” Stiles asked, just to fill the silence. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do, so he picked up another of the photos. It depicted another small family, with one character looking very familiar.

“Is that… is that Peter?” he asked incredulous. The man in the picture was smiling brightly, standing close to a woman with reddish blonde hair that looked a lot like Lydia’s, holding a toddler in his arms. The woman next to him was carrying an infant, not even a year old.

Derek looked at the picture Stiles held in his hands and nodded.

“Yes, that’s Peter, and my aunt Caroline and my cousins, Ayleen and Savannah… They lived with us here in the house, because my father and Peter were working together to start up a business and Peter and Catherine didn’t have enough money to buy their own house yet” he told the boy next to him, then pulled another picture from the stack. 

“That’s my other uncle, Brandon, and his wife Claire. They had been visiting from San Francisco. They weren’t even supposed to still be here, but Aunt Claire hadn’t felt well so they had waited until she felt better to go back home…” 

Silence stretched over Stiles and Derek. The alpha was caught up again in memories, and Stiles simply didn’t know what he could say in this moment. For the first in a long time, he was speechless. How could all this have happened to a completely innocent family? 

Stiles continued to think about what Derek had said about his family, until the clearing of a throat brought him back to his senses. Derek had put the pictures back to the pile of papers that had fallen out of the box and moved everything together to be picked up and disposed on the table he had carried inside. 

“Let’s just get the rest of the things inside” the alpha said gruffly, his face a stony mask again.

“Yeah, let’s just unload the trailer” Stiles conceded, feeling it was the best not to prod Derek about his family any further. He couldn’t believe the older man had actually told him anything about the people he had lost. Stiles had thought Derek would close up as soon as he found the picture, snap at Stiles and send him away, but he hadn’t, and Stiles was thankful the werewolf had trusted him enough to open up to him, even if only a little bit.

Stiles followed Derek back outside and to the trailer, where the wolf continued to lift the furniture out into the open and Stiles made to carry the remaining boxes inside.

Once they had unloaded everything from the trailer and car, in complete silence, the pair went outside and sat on the patio, much like they had done the morning after the move. They didn’t say anything for a long time, just sitting and listening to the noises they could hear from the forest close by. Stiles thought he could hear laughter come from within the woods, if only faintly. The betas were still nowhere to be found, so Stiles guessed they were still running wild, letting their senses get the better of them. Eventually the teenager turned to the man beside him.

“You know, I think you should get those pictures of your family framed and put them up somewhere in the house. They are a part of you, and you are a part of this pack, so your family is a part of this pack as well. We should start a wall of pictures in the sitting or dining room. Of all of us. Maybe we could take a group picture as well. Not such a professional one, that wouldn’t really fit for our group of weirdos, but a casual one, with all of us” Stiles stated, feeling like he had let go of a bout of word vomit. Derek turned to look at Stiles for a moment, then turned back to look at the forest again.

“Yeah, maybe we should do that.”

*** 

It was later in the day when Stiles heard a commotion from downstairs. The teenager was helping Isaac assemble his new desk, when a lour roar and a crash was heard from the hallway. 

Stiles first exchanged looks with the younger wolf, then hurried to get down the stairs, worrying that something serious was going on. Knowing his pack, the commotion could range from Scott and Jackson arguing about a bag of chips to a new threat endangering everyone. Stiles hoped for the former. He was disappointed, however, when he saw what was happening.

In the hallway downstairs, Peter was holding Boyd against a wall, a clawed hand at the younger wolf’s throat, growling and flashing blue, iridescent eyes. Peter’s fangs were elongated and he was at the verge of turning completely, growling at the beta, who was looking surprised at what was happening. Next to the two stood the secretary Derek and Stiles had brought to the house earlier. 

“Where did you get this from?” Peter snarled from behind his teeth, the longer canines making it harder for him to speak clearly. Instead of answering, Boyd clawed at the hand still at his throat, his claws protruding now as well. 

Stiles was a little proud to see that he hadn’t changed yet, though. Boyd was getting better at the control thing.

Before Peter could do anything else, though, he was pulled away roughly at his neck, and in turn slammed into a wall opposite Boyd. Derek’s eyes glowed red, Stiles could see that even from where he stood, and Isaac behind him cowered a little at the display of superiority of the alpha.

“Don’t. Touch. My. Betas” Derek ground out, leaning closer to his uncle with every word. “Never touch them again.” 

Stiles was surprised when Peter conceded to the alpha’s words and the man changed back to his completely human form. Derek didn’t let go of him for another minute though.

“Where did you get it from? I thought… the fire” Peter said quietly after Derek had released the hold on his uncle.

“It was one of the few things that survived. It was in a storage unit for the whole time” Derek explained calmly. Stiles could imagine that the alpha knew exactly what the piece of furniture meant to Peter. It was one of the few things that survived the fire that his whole family hadn’t made it out of.

Thinking about it now, Stiles could understand why Peter had gone so completely off the rails after the fire. He hadn’t just lost a sister, but also his wife and children. Surviving while others didn’t would take a toll on anyone, Stiles guessed. Still, it didn’t excuse Peter’s behavior; it just… made it a bit more understandable.

Peter walked away from the wall he still stood against and towards the bureau. He didn’t notice that all the other members of the pack had gathered around the display, standing out of the crazy wolf’s way, Lydia partially hidden behind Jackson. The older man stopped in front of the piece of furniture and slowly, almost reverently, stroked a hand over the smooth and cool wood. He kept standing and just staring for a long moment, before lifting the secretary up from the floor and carrying it into the sitting room, away from the prying eyes of all the betas and humans. 

Sensing that it would probably be best if Peter was left alone for the remainder of the day, Stiles clapped his hands together twice, hopping down the last two steps to stand in the hallway as well.

“Okay! Great, why doesn’t everyone go back to the things they did before this… little show! Come on guys, if you continue to work this slowly, this house won’t be ready to properly live in by the time school starts again” he announced, making shooing motions towards where the betas stood, still looking at where Peter had almost lost it only a few minutes earlier.

One after the other filed out of the hallway, going back to the things that they had been doing before, leaving only Isaac, Boyd, Derek and Stiles himself in the foyer. Stiles turned to Boyd, who was still leaning against the wall Peter had slammed him into.

“You okay?” he asked, and Boyd simply nodded, then walked to where Erica had vanished. 

After the tall teenager had left, Stiles turned to Isaac, who was still standing on the last step of the staircase, looking slightly spooked. The young wolf didn’t like conflict, no matter who was involved in it. 

“Isaac, why don’t you go back upstairs, okay? I’ll be with you in just a moment” Stiles ordered the wolf in a calm and placating voice and Isaac hurried back into his room.

“Do you know what that was about?” Stiles asked Derek when they were the only ones left in the hallway. Derek heaved a sigh and leaned against the wall he had slammed Peter in only moments before.

“I don’t really know. Peter used to work at the desk sometimes… but I didn’t think it would hold such value to him…” he said, shaking his head at the memory of what had just happened. Derek didn’t want to be this violent. He had never experienced violence in his family before the fire, but in the last few months, so much had changed in that aspect. He just wanted a calm pack life, nothing more, nothing less.

“Does… does Peter have anything to remember his family by?” Stiles asked again after a moment of leaving Derek to his thoughts. 

“I don’t think so. All the things that were able to be saved had been retrieved from the house and put in our storage unit…” the alpha said closing his eyes and breathing in deeply. 

“Well, maybe it would do him good to have something. Maybe you could… I don’t know, give him the picture of him and his family?” Stiles suggested, holding his breath, afraid he could be the witness of another outburst. But Derek stayed quiet, his eyes stayed shut.

Without another word the alpha left the hallway a moment later, leaving Stiles standing on his own.

“Well… that went well.”

*** 

Stiles had gone back upstairs to help Isaac with his room after being left alone in the foyer downstairs. The pair had made quick work of assembling the desk Isaac had chosen and had then moved on to the second nightstand that hadn’t been set up yet. 

The two were in the middle of screwing one of the table’s legs to the surface when Derek entered the bedroom, sitting down on the desk chair in one corner of the room. The alpha didn’t say anything until the nightstand had been assembled and Stiles and Isaac had turned to him. He was holding two pictures in his hands.

“Which one?” Derek simply asked and Stiles walked over to where he sat and took the photographs from his hands. One was the one he had seen earlier that day, the other one of the whole Hale family. 

“Do you have another copy of this one?” Stiles asked, pointing at the one depicting all of the Hales. Derek shook his head no.

“Then give him the one of just his family. You ought to have a picture of your whole family as well. You can have another copy made and then give that to him as well later, but for now, I think the other one is okay” Stiles decided, pushing the photographs back into the alpha’s hands. 

“Good. Then I’ll just give it to him now” Derek declared, standing back up from his seat, but stopped his movements when Stiles held up his hand and called out a ‘no’.

“No, let Isaac give it to him.”

“What?” both wolves exclaimed staring at the human between them.

“Don’t worry. Let Isaac go downstairs and give the picture to Peter. No one can be mad or snap at our puppy!” Stiles reasoned, but he could see that his opposites didn’t buy his arguments. “Come on, no one can be a better bearer of nice memories than Isaac! And if you’re so worried, Derek, then go downstairs with him and supervise to your heart’s desire! Seriously!” 

Derek and Isaac seemed placated by these words, at least partly, and left the room together. 

At the foot of the stairs Derek gave his beta the picture he was to hand over to his uncle, and Isaac stared at the happy family for a moment. It was unreal to think that the nice young man in the picture had turned into a crazy psychopath that had killed numerous people.

“I’ll be in the kitchen, have to start on dinner anyway” Derek grumbled and shoved Isaac in front of him towards the door leading to the sitting room. 

Timidly Isaac walked into the sitting room and towards Peter. The older wolf was sitting against the wall, his stare fixated on a small stack of papers in his hands. The bureau’s doors were standing open. The papers had probably been inside all this time.

“Uhhm… Derek… Derek gave me this… to give to you” Isaac stammered once he had reached Peter’s side. The former alpha’s eyes were ripped from the paper he was staring at, settling on the teen. Isaac felt hot under the scrutiny of Peter’s eyes. He had never been really comfortable in the man’s company, but right now, he just looked… sad and defeated. Without another thought, Isaac held out the photograph towards the man on the floor, not saying another word. He didn’t feel like there was anything appropriate for him to say in this situation.

Peter slowly lifted one of his hands and received the picture. As soon as he saw the faces in it, he let the stack of papers fall to the floor around him, revealing them to be drawings done by a child, his child probably. 

Isaac had never seen Peter sport an expression such as the one he was seeing on the man’s face in that moment. Gone was the stoic impassivity. Instead, his face was filled with something akin to joy, albeit dampened by a bout of sadness as well. Looking into the faces of his family obviously brought back good as well as tragic memories.

Isaac wasn’t sure what to do now that he had handed the picture over to Peter, but something told him that he could stay with the man for another moment. Leaning down, the boy gathered the fallen pieces of paper together, putting them into a neat pile. Looking closer at the papers, he saw that these must have been drawn by a little girl, who couldn’t have been in school yet. The picture on top of the pile depicted an array of colorful butterflies in a field, all done in crayon. On top of the paper stood in bold, slightly crooked letters ‘To Daddy’ followed by a large pink heart.

“Were these from your daughter?” Isaac asked quietly and Peter looked up at him through hazy eyes.

“Yes” he said quietly, his voice scratchy as if he was holding back tears, “Ayleen loved to draw.”

Isaac nodded at that. He debated with himself to leave then, but he had the feeling that he should say something else.

“I’m… I’m sorry you lost your family… Maybe… maybe we could all be a family one day…” he rushed out and then ran from the room.

*** 

Late that night, after everyone had gone home and Isaac was already in bed, Derek sat on the back patio, looking out at the forest. He just wanted to leave the day and all the emotions behind. He knew he had had to deal with his past, and he was glad he had started going over his things from before the fire, but it still took a toll on him.

The alpha’s ears perked up when he heard someone else stepping onto the patio from the sitting room. Derek turned and saw Peter in the shine of the lamps that were turned on inside. Without saying anything he turned back to watch the forest.

“Thank you for the picture” Peter started after a moment of silence between the two Hales.

“Nevermind. It was Stiles’ idea that you should have something to remember your family by” Derek replied, still not looking at his uncle.

“It still meant a lot, no matter whose idea it was” Peter insisted. “And I found something that is yours.” 

Derek finally turned at hearing these words. Peter walked closer to his nephew and held out a hand. Derek took the folded piece of paper from him and slowly opened it. It was a drawing, of three male figures, two tall and the third one shorter. They all sported large grins and dark hair. Above the figures were three names written, ‘Logan’, Derek’ and ‘Tristan’, and on top of the page stood in bright pink ‘To Derek, From Ayleen’. 

Derek smiled fondly at the drawing. He remembered his cousin drawing countless of these depictions of their family, dedicating all of them to various members of the family. Derek had gotten one of these drawings at least once a week.

“Thank you” the alpha said quietly, folding the paper back into a small square.

“It’s yours” Peter simply replied. The older man sat down next to his nephew at the lip of the patio and looked out at the woods in silence. After a moment he turned to look at Derek, though.

“Isaac said that maybe we could all be a family one day” he stated quietly, looking back down at his hands after he had spoken.

Would Derek like to have a family again? Of course. Would Peter be included in this family? Probably. He was his only remaining blood relative after all. But would it take time? Most definitely.

“Yes, maybe one day.”


	7. Chapter 7

“God damn it, Scott! No wolf powers!” Stiles exclaimed as he lay on his back on the hard ground of the back yard. The pack had all come together that day to receive the tables that would finally be delivered. And because unloading two tables did not take a whole day, the boys of the pack had decided to squeeze in a little Lacrosse practice. They had all taken their sticks and padding with them, and were now occupying the back yard for their practice. 

It was an easy practice, simply throwing the ball from one player to the other, and then try and score a goal, but everything was a little rougher if you played with a bunch of werewolves. Stiles had to experience that first hand, because he now lay on his back, having lost his balance after catching the ball Scott hat shot in his direction. It had been entirely too fast for Stiles and the boy had ended up where he was now - on his ass.

“I’m sorry Stiles! I didn’t mean to throw it this hard. I can’t really control it all the time…” Scott apologized, even stretching out a hand to help his best friend back up to his feet. Stiles pointedly ignored the hand and got up without any help. He turned around and scowled towards the porch, where Lydia and Erica were sitting in chairs, tabloids in hand, and currently laughing at the boy.

“Stop laughing! I might possibly have broken my ass, okay?! The ground is freaking hard” Stiles exclaimed, motioning down to where he had lain only moments earlier. 

The yard really wasn’t all that pretty yet. The leaves that had piled up around the ruin of the old Hale house had been cleared away while the house had been rebuilt, but underneath had lain a browning blanket of grass that was only now starting to regain its strength and color. And it wasn’t fluffy and soft yet, much to Stiles’ backside’s dismay. 

Stiles looked around. Now that he was thinking about it, the back yard, and possibly the front yard as well, wasn’t really looking all that done yet. It was looking as if the builders had just now stopped working on the house, which was true, but Stiles still didn’t like the way the property looked. 

When the boy had been younger, he had spent hours upon hours helping his mother in the garden, planting new flowers every season and even growing a few vegetables in one corner of the garden. His mother had even allowed him to have his own little garden that he cared for all alone. Yes, maybe his strawberries had been non-existent, but he had grown fantastic tomatoes! After his mother had passed away, so had his vegetable garden…

But seeing the unused ground all around him, Stiles started feeling an urge to get his hands into the dirt and start planting flowers. He wanted this house to be a home. Not for him, of course, he wasn’t even living in the Hale house, but both Isaac and Derek deserved a nice home after all the crap they had gone through most of their lives. And Stiles wanted to help making their home nice. He probably was the only one who knew what a shovel was anyway.

“Uhmm, Stiles?” A voice asked next to the boy and Stiles came back to his senses. He had been standing rigid in the middle of the lawn, thinking, not doing anything for at least two minutes. Scott was standing next to him, looking slightly confused and worried. 

“Oh, yeah, no, I’m fine! Just thinking. You know what? You continue playing Lacrosse, I’m going to go through the forest, trying to find some wild flowers that we could plant here in the garden. It still looks a little bare” Stiles announced, having come to the conclusion about what to do with this garden. It seriously needed some work!

“What? No! You can’t just walk through the forest on your own! All kinds of things could happen! You could be attacked by something!” Scott exclaimed at hearing Stiles’ plan. Stiles scoffed.

“Really, Scott? Really? I could be attacked? As far as I know the only ‘things’ that could seriously harm me if they attacked are standing right here in this garden. Besides, I have been in the preserve thousands of times, and never has anything happened to me” Stiles countered but backtracked a little when he saw the faces of his friends, “Okay, maybe a few things did happen, but hey, I’m still alive!”

“Come on, Stiles, I really don’t think it’s a good idea to go out into the forest by yourself. If Derek hears we let you go alone, he will kill us!” Scott pleaded and Stiles briefly thought about why Scott had brought up Derek. He wouldn’t kill anyone for letting Stiles go off alone. Hell, Derek wanted to kill Stiles more often than not himself; he probably wouldn’t be too sad if Stiles was attacked. Yes, they might have come to the conclusion that antagonizing each other was leading them nowhere, and they might even be considered some weird kind of friends, but Stiles was still certain that Derek wouldn’t mourn Stiles’ demise. Stiles opened his mouth to tell his friend just that, but Scott shushed him.

“No, Stiles, please, just take one of us with you. Please? Just in case something really happens” Scott pleaded and with a sigh Stiles gave in. There was no way you could say no to Scott’s puppy eyes. They were worse than Isaac’s!

“Oh my God, okay! Seriously you would think I’m a baby! Erica!” Stiles shouted, pointing his finger at the wolf sitting on the porch, “You come with me. With you, I at least know you’ll know what I’m talking about.” He was met with a chorus of ‘hey’s, which Stiles pointedly ignored. If he wasn’t allowed to go into the forest on his own, he was at least allowed to make jibs at the rest of the wolves.

Erica huffed, but put her tabloid down and stalked over to where the boys stood on the lawn.

“Thanks, guys! ‘Cause of you I can now walk through the preserve, collecting flowers. Really well done!” she griped, shooting each and every boy around her a stink eye. Then she grabbed Stiles’ hand and started pulling him towards the edge of the preserve.

“Come on, Batman. If I have to go with you, I want to go now.”

*** 

Stiles and Erica emerged back out of the forest about an hour later. They hadn’t gone in deep; Stiles hadn’t wanted to worry Scott too much. He had been against Stiles going into the forest even after Erica had been selected to accompany him. And the trip into the forest had been in vain anyways. Apart from a few different kinds of Wolfsbane the she-wolf and the human had only found weeds that Stiles most certainly didn’t want to plant into the flower beds around the house. But finding the Wolfsbane had been an upside at least. Stiles had made a mental note to go back and retrieve a few samples of the poisonous flower later, to add to his stock, and also to start a little Wolfsbane flower bed as well. Which would be out of reach of the wolves of course. Knowing his friends, Stiles was sure that the wolves would run head first into a bed of Monkshood if they weren’t careful. Especially Scott. How Peter could have chosen Stiles’ best friend as a good wolf was beyond the teenager. Sometimes Scott was too naïve for his own good.

But Stiles still wanted the property to look like a real home, for Isaac, and also for Derek. And flowers would at least be a good start.

Having made up his mind, the teenager walked inside the large house they now called their wolf den, and through to the office, where Derek had last been, organizing files. He was still going at it, filing away papers into a file cabinet. Who knew the alpha was this organized.

“Come with me” Stiles said in opening, not even giving Derek an explanation what was going on. Derek, the stubborn wolf that he was, didn’t have any of it.

“No.”

“Yes you are. Put on your shoes, we have to go.”

“Where? And no.”

“We are going to the garden centre and pick out flowers for the front and back yard” Stiles deadpanned, getting slightly annoyed with the alpha and his stubborn tendencies. Why did he have to be this hard headed all the time? Why couldn’t he just accept something for a change?

“Why would I go to the garden centre with you?” Derek asked, still not moving from his spot behind the desk. Now Stiles was really getting fed up. 

“Because this house of yours still looks like a damn construction site and it’s about time that ends!” The teenager was having trouble keeping a sudden anger at bay. Why was Derek always so freaking passive about everything?!

“Don’t shout at me.” This was the last straw, his fucking passiveness. Clenching his hands into fists, Stiles rounded the desk and stopped in front of the alpha. 

“You can’t fucking tell me what to do, Derek Hale! You are not my alpha. And I’m sick of you having no opinion on anything!” Stiles now actively shouted, and in response got a flash of red eyes. Derek slowly stood up from his chair and looked down on Stiles. Well, Stiles wasn’t that much shorter than Derek, but the wolf still managed to seem intimidating. But Stiles wasn’t having any of that now. He would not back down. 

“Don’t shout at me” Derek repeated again, a growl lacing his words for emphasis, but Stiles only scoffed.

“I can shout at you as much as I want. I can’t deal with this anymore! With you! With you and your damn passiveness! This is your home, for your pack, for Isaac, so you have to fucking take responsibility for it, God damn it!” With a flash Stiles back connected with the nearest wall and Derek was now positively looming over him.

“What do flowers have anything to do with that?!” Derek ground out between his slightly elongated teeth. His fangs weren’t completely out yet, but Stiles could definitely see their pointy ends.

“It has everything to do with it! Just because you built a house and put furniture in it, doesn’t mean you have built a home for your pack. It takes more than a couch to make a house livable. You can’t just think about yourself, damn it, you have to care for Isaac as well. And right now I can’t really see much of an effort on your side to make this pack work. The betas aren’t your little minions anymore, they are your family!” Maybe Stiles was exaggerating a little bit. He had seen Derek try to bring the pack closer together, but he had had to say something to get Derek to react. Well, his back wouldn’t be happy about his reaction, but sometimes sacrifices had to be made. 

“I am trying” Derek growled, and yup, there they were, the pointy fangs, the fangs that could take Stiles’ life. 

“Stiles, what’s-“ Stiles heard from the doorway and turned his head, well, as good as he could with a mad alpha werewolf all in his grid, to the right. Scott, Isaac and Erica stood outside the office, looking at the display in front of them. Scott was close to shifting to come to his best friend’s aid, but Stiles held up a hand to stop him.

“Scott go back outside, this is not your argument. This is between Derek and I” Stiles said in a tone that didn’t leave room for buts. Which didn’t stop Scott from throwing one out in the open anyway. 

“But-“ 

“No, I can handle this on my own. Go back outside.” Stiles only turned back to look at Derek when he heard three pairs of feet scuttling away. 

“Derek, you have to stop being this big wall of numbness. You got to freaking start caring” Stiles started the argument again, but his anger had lulled down a bit. He just wanted Derek to start caring for his pack, for all of their sakes. 

“I am caring” Derek ground out, and apparently the energy to fight had left him as well, at least a little bit. Stiles was still pinned against a wall after all.

“That might be well and true, but your pack doesn’t really notice a whole lot about that. Who is the one calling pack nights? Me. Who is the one asking the others if everything is alright? Scott. Who is the one Jackson has gone to whenever he has nightmares about what he did when he was a Kanima? Certainly not you. You are the big bad alpha everyone is practically scared shitless about. If you want this pack to be a unit, a family, you have to make an effort and let your god damn wall down once in a while!” Stiles really just wanted Derek to see reason. He didn’t want to argue, he didn’t want to insult Derek, he just wanted this weird family of misfit teenagers to work out. And Derek as their leader would have to try the hardest to make it work. Everyone would have to give something, but Derek would have to give the most.

“So what do you want me to do, Stiles? Do you want me to go out and call pack nights from now on? Do you want me to make house calls to Jackson and ask if he’s okay every night? What do you want from me?” Derek griped, obviously getting fed up with Stiles. But Stiles would fight for what he believed in. He would fight Derek teeth and claw until he saw sense.

“I don’t care what you do, you can have weekly picnics for all I care! I just want you to try something! And a good first start would be to get in my car right now and go to the garden center with me. We might get Isaac to smile when he sees his mother’s favorite flowers in the garden later!” With the words out Stiles turned and walked out of the office, leaving Derek behind. He didn’t care if the alpha followed him. If he knew what was good for him he would follow. 

Stiles grabbed his phone, wallet and car keys from the kitchen counter and left the house towards his car. He sat down in the driver’s seat and waited. 

Not a minute later Derek emerged from the front door and walked towards him. 

Thankfully for Stiles, the ride to the garden center didn’t take all that long. Sitting next to the broody man he called his alpha for longer than necessary didn’t sound as appealing to him as it would do on a different day, a day where Stiles hadn’t provoked said alpha into almost ripping his head off. Stiles didn’t even have anything to chatter about, like he usually did when the silence between people made his skin itch.

Derek didn’t just stay silent for the car ride; he didn’t say a word when the pair entered the large garden center or when Stiles directed them to the lavish display of plants that were there to choose from either. He just… stared stoically at the colorful flowers as if they had all personally offended him. Stiles was thankful the stare was directed at the flowers and not the person that had actually offended the werewolf – him. 

For the first ten minutes all the pair did was loading bags of potting compost into their cart. Derek didn’t really have to participate in that action other than lifting the bags and dumping them in the cart. Stiles had figured to start with the ‘easy’ task, where talking and decision making wasn’t required… Stiles didn’t want to know how the actual picking out plants part of this trip was going to end. 

Even though he had to admit, Derek surrounded by pretty flowers was a sight to see!

Sadly, the easy part of this trip didn’t last forever and sooner than he had wished they were standing in front of rows upon rows of different plants and flowers, all at their disposal.

“So… what flowers do you want in your garden?” Stiles asked tentatively after they had stood in front of a batch of pansies for what felt like five minutes. All Derek did was turn to him and glare, one eye brow raised as if to ask whether Stiles was kidding him or not. “Ooookay, why don’t we just grab a batch of daisies and go from there?!” 

To say the trip was a disaster would be an understatement. Stiles tried his hardest to get Derek to voice an opinion on the kind of bushes he wanted the front of the house be adorned with, but all he got in response whenever he turned to the alpha wolf with a plant in hand to get a yay or nay was a growl and glare. 

It turned out to be Stiles who picked most of the flowers and plants. As patient as he was sometimes, receiving a growl every time he posed a question was tiring even to him. 

When the cart was full to the brim with all kinds of shrubbery and flowers Stiles started steering towards the check out area, only to come to an immediate stop in front of another aisle, the tools.

“Derek do you have a spade? Or a shovel?” he asked, glancing back at the man who was trotting after him, his face still glum.

“Hmm” Derek grunted. Nothing more. Stiles closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, breathing deeply through his nose. He had put up with Derek’s behavior for longer than he had thought possible, but there was a point where even he couldn’t try anymore. He breathed deeply once more, trying to get his temper under control again. Derek Hale was going to make him crazy sooner or later!

“Derek. I have put up with your moping for long enough. Can you please just give me an answer? You know, one I can actually understand? I don’t speak wolf!” he seethed through his teeth, careful not to speak too loud and attract other people’s attention. He was annoyed with the werewolf, yes, but he still didn’t want to blow the cover the pack had built up so carefully. “I don’t want to start up the argument from earlier again, but I will if you don’t start talking! Trust me, I will drag you to every store in this town if you don’t start giving opinions about things. Now, do we have to buy a spade and a shovel and a rake and gardening gloves?” Stiles had to wait a moment, but eventually Derek lifted his gaze to the teenager and nodded.

“Yes.”

“Great! Then let’s go in that aisle and then we’re almost done with this trip! See, it wasn’t so hard picking out flowers, was it?”

Stiles didn’t even wait for an answer.

When they were back in the car, though, the silence from before started again, and Stiles was certain he would not be able to sit in silence the whole ride again. And yes, maybe he was a bit at fault for the icy silence between him and Derek. He had said a few things that he maybe shouldn’t have said earlier that day. About Derek not trying. 

After another moment Stiles couldn’t take it any longer. 

“Look, I might have overreacted a little bit earlier. I know you are trying. I’m just… I’m just so sick of it that you never have anything you are really passionate about. I mean, you don’t have to acquire some stupid hobby just to have something, but everyone has to be passionate about something, okay? Why can’t you just be really passionate about your pack? I mean, not like that, in like, a creepy passionate way, but just show that you care about your pack once in a while. I’m pretty sure that would go a long way already, just for the wolves to see that you actually do care about them. I mean-“

“Stiles.”

“No, I mean, I know that you are caring about the pack. And even though I said differently earlier, I do see you as my alpha as well, even though I’m not your beta. I was just really pissed off. But you are my alpha as well and I know I was out of line if you look at the argument from the whole wolfy pack hierarchy side, but I just had to say something, and seeing as I’m only human, I don’t think I really fit into the hierarchy thing anyway-“

“Stiles! Shut up!”

The teenager listened this time and shut his mouth. He had said his part anyways.

*** 

The rest of the pack was already waiting on the porch when Stiles arrived at the Hale house. They had probably heard the Jeep approaching from a mile away. Nevermind, the teenager thought, they could help carry the flowers to the back of the house.

Derek exited the car as soon as it had come to a standstill, without deeming Stiles another glance. Stiles still felt bad about what he had accused Derek of earlier. Yes, he had tried to apologize, and he had said his part, but it still seemed like Derek hadn’t acknowledged what he had said to him in the car. Was he cross with him now? Would Stiles have to redeem himself to get into the alpha’s good graces again? Not that he needed to do that, he hadn’t done anything wrong. He had just spoken the truth, and if Derek was pissed about that now, he would have to deal with that. Stiles didn’t have to feel bad about anything at all. 

He still did, though.

“Scott, Jackson, Isaac, Lydia, you stay here with Stiles and help him with the plants, Erica and Boyd, you are going with me to pick up the meat and do the rest of the shopping” Derek announced once he had stepped onto the porch. The betas set into action, walking towards the Jeep to retrieve all the things Stiles and Derek had purchased at the garden center. Stiles, however, stopped in his tracks.

“Meat? Shopping? The kitchen is stocked, what do we need more food for?” he asked, wondering if he had missed out on a memo. Seeing as Stiles was the one to usually send out the memos, he highly doubted that. Derek turned back to Stiles and looked at him, his face completely stoic.

“We are having a barbeque tomorrow. Housewarming. Your father is coming and so is Ms McCall” was all he said before turning around and heading inside.

Well, Stiles felt like the biggest asshole in the entire world. He had done nothing but accuse Derek of not caring about his pack for the last few hours, and all the while he had actually been planning a housewarming barbeque for all of them. He had even invited his dad!

If he could, Stiles would turn back the time and take all the words he had hurled at Derek back and bury them deep in his mind. He had been so wrong. Derek had cared, in his own, very unconventional way, but Stiles had been too close-minded to notice it. Stiles knew Derek. Why hadn’t he realized that the alpha would care in a different way than everyone else? It would have been completely out of character if he had started with cuddle fests every weekend or road trips to ice cream parlors. Derek only did that with him. Well, there wasn’t any cuddling, but there definitely were road trip type of outings to get things for the house. Maybe Stiles brought out a different side to Derek. Maybe that’s why Stiles had assumed he wasn’t trying with the pack; because Stiles saw a different side to Derek so often, he had forgotten it was the one he only showed when not many others were around. 

But Stiles couldn’t turn back the time. He couldn’t take back what he had said. He could just try and make it up, somehow. 

The only way he could make up anything in that moment, however, was by planting the most amazing garden Beacon Hills had ever seen. Not much for redeeming, but so be it. 

Once Derek and his designated part of the pack had left for the stores, Stiles made his way to the back of the house, where the rest of the pack was already waiting. Stiles could see in her face that Lydia would have rather gone with Derek to go shopping – what an addict - but Stiles was glad the other human of the pack had stayed behind. He needed to go back into the forest to get the Wolfsbane he had found earlier with Erica, and Lydia was the only one who could help carry it back to the house. He didn’t want to poison the puppies after all!

“No, Stiles, I don’t want to run through the preserve looking for stupid flowers that can kill my boyfriend” was Lydia’s answer once Stiles had told his friends his battle plan. The boy could only roll his eyes and sigh.

“Lydia. The garden has to be done by tomorrow, tonight if possible. I can’t get all the plants on my own and then plant them as well. So there is no buts, and no pouting, you are coming with me, and we’ll be out again in half the time!” Stiles stated. He felt like a dad talking like that, but his day had been too eventful to deal with Lydia on top of it all. She’d just have to deal. Not waiting for an answer from the red-head, Stiles turned to the betas, who were all lined up in front of the piles of gardening supplies and flowers, as if awaiting instruction. Even Jackson wasn’t scowling and questioning what he was doing getting instructions from Stiles!

“All of you, get the flower beds ready for me, so once Lydia and I are back, we can start right away, okay? And get that little patch over there” Stiles pointed to a patch of land near the edge of the forest, where no grass had grown yet, “ready for planting as well, the Wolfsbane’s gonna go there, so it’s out of the way for your roughhousing. If you ever fall into the patch, it’s not gonna be my fault, it’s plenty out of the way!” Now Stiles felt like he was a mom, admonishing little boys for playing to roughly. What was this day still holding out for him? Was he going to be a grandma by the end of the day?!

Without a word of complaint, the wolves started for the gardening supplies and began cleaning up the supposed flower beds around the edge of the house. Stiles turned to Lydia and grinned.

“You want to change shoes before we go hiking?”

*** 

Like Stiles had predicted, he and Lydia were done with uprooting the Wolfsbane from the forest in no time and had the plants back at the house before the wolves were done preparing the patch where it was supposed to go. 

Because of that, Stiles started busying himself with setting out the different kinds of plants and flowers and setting them on the flower beds where they would be put into the soil later. He didn’t notice the wolf sneaking up on him until Isaac’s arms were slung around his torso, the beta’s nose buried deep in his neck.

“Dude!” Stiles exclaimed, jumping a foot into the air in surprise. His heart slowed again once he noticed Isaac was hugging, not attacking him. As if Isaac could attack anyone!

“Thank you” the blond beta murmured; his nose still close to Stiles’ pulse point. 

“Thank you? What for? Did I do something that I’ve forgotten about? ‘Cause that can happen, you know? Last week I forgot I had already done the essay for Lit and started doing it aga-“

“Thank you for the flowers. The Daisies. You picked them on purpose, right?”

“Oh, that. Yes, I did. I thought it would be nice for you to have something reminding you of your mom close to you. And they do look really great don’t you think?” Stiles replied and ran his hand through Isaac’s mob of hair. He sometimes forgot that Isaac was only a few months younger that Stiles himself. He just seemed a lot younger in certain situations.

“Why don’t you start planting them, huh? That way I can start on the Wolfsbane patch and we might be done by sundown” Stiles suggested and Isaac nodded into his neck. With another nuzzle the beta let go of the human and skipped towards where the pots of Daisies were lining the back wall of the Hale house. 

Once Stiles had made sure the others were all starting with the planting of the flowers, he walked back to the patch near the forest. He kneeled down, surrounded by the pretty purple, but dangerous, flowers and started digging little holes for them to go into. He was halfway through when another person plopped down next to him and reached out for one of the flowers.

“Hey man, let me help you with that! We’re gonna be done in no ti-“

“Don’t touch that Scott!” Stiles exclaimed, slapping his best friend’s hand away from where he was just about to touch one of the plants. Scott looked at Stiles with large eyes, confusion written clearly in them.

“Wolfsbane, Scott, Wolfsbane! Do you want to get yourself killed?!” Stiles yelled, throwing his arms in the air in exasperation. How his best friend survived sometimes, Stiles didn’t know. 

“I… uhmm, I just wanted to…” Scott started, but Stiles shook his head to stop him in his tracks.

“No I know, you just wanted to help. I’m sorry. It has been an awful day today… Why don’t you go and help Isaac and I’m gonna finish this here, okay?” Stiles said, trying to keep his voice level. He was just so exhausted. This day had not gone the way he had planned it to.

“Yeah… okay… yeah…” Scott mumbled, getting up from the floor and hurried towards where Isaac was still planting Daisies. 

Now Scott was upset with Stiles as well. Just… great. 

An hour later Stiles heard the cars of the rest of the pack arrive back in the drive way. Stiles hadn’t noticed so much time had passed since Derek had left for the town until just then. He was finishing up the last touches of the back yard, straightening plants that were slightly lopsided and giving them an overall inspection once more. The betas and Lydia had done great. The back yard was completely done, the flowers would only need to be watered. Stiles would come back to the pack house earlier the next day to plant the flowers in the front yard, and with a bit of luck, everything would be set for when the guests arrived for the barbeque in the afternoon. 

With another nod Stiles grabbed the watering hose Derek and he had bought as well, and rolled it out. He plugged it into the outside faucet and started watering the plants. He liked the silence this action brought him. Everyone else was inside the house, getting cleaned up after all of the digging in dirt they did in the afternoon. Stiles was proud of what he had created. The garden was already looking lush and alive. 

“The garden looks really good.”

Stiles turned around to see Derek at the back porch, leaning against one of the supporting beams. His gaze was going over all the plants that hadn’t been there that morning, and his expression confirmed his words.

“Thank you. The betas did most of it” Stiles replied. He didn’t want to test his luck. Stiles had really dug himself a hole earlier that day, Derek had every right to keep him sitting in it a little longer. 

“They had good instructions, then” Derek said, looking away from the plants and at Stiles, who was still watering the new flowers. “Dinner’s ready in a moment.”

“I’ll be there in a minute” Stiles murmured, turning back to his task. 

Maybe he was forgiven after all. 

*** 

“This back yard really is wonderful! I can’t believe the flowers have only been planted yesterday!” Melissa McCall exclaimed for the second time that afternoon. She was sat in one of the deck chairs, Lydia and Erica left and right of her, a cold drink in her hand. She was looking over the newly arranged flower beds again and again, shaking her head at what she was seeing. 

Indeed Stiles had been surprised when he had returned to the Hale house that morning. The flowers seemed to have grown quite a bit over night. Stiles had first thought he had only imagined the growth spurt, but everyone else had confirmed that yes, the flowers had not been this big the night before. 

“I can only imagine who was responsible for this” John Stilinski said from where he was standing close to the barbeque, a beer in hand. He looked over at Stiles who was setting the dining table the wolves had carried outside. This barbeque would not have to take place on the floor. When Melissa looked over at the man he continued.

“Our garden always looked like this in spring. Claudia loved getting her hands dirty and planting new flowers every year. Although I am surprised the flowers grew so much in July. It’s a bit late for new flowers, right?”

“It’s probably because of his Spark” came a new voice from inside the house. Dr. Deaton was stepping out of the living room, a beer in hand as well.

“Spark?” the Sheriff asked, confusion clearly written across his face.

“Yes. It’s a form of ability. A strong will, if you want. Not many people have it, but I have seen Stiles use it before. It could have been passed down by his mother, if you say she could make a garden look like this as well” Deaton explained. Stiles had stopped in his tracks, cutlery still in hand.

“You mean I’m magic? I’m California’s Harry Potter?” he exclaimed, which resulted in Deaton chuckling slightly. 

“No, you’re not magic. You just have a will that can make a lot of things happen. Like the mountain ash, remember? Oftentimes, nature will submit to this kind of spark, and things like this will happen. It’s nothing like magic, but can still be very useful. It can enhance herbal mixtures or sometimes even make certain kinds of Wolfsbane more potent, both as poison and cure. It can even strengthen a pack, if the one carrying the spark is passionate about it” Deaton further explained, as if it wasn’t major news. Stiles would have liked to have known that before!

“Speaking of Wolfsbane, Stiles has started a poison garden at the edge of the forest. I swear he is trying to kill us in our sleep!” Jackson piped up just then. At his words Stiles rolled his eyes.

“I’m not trying to kill you, dumbass. I started the Wolfsbane patch in case of an emergency. Knowing all of you, you’re going to need it as an antidote sooner or later! But now that you’ve said it, I would be careful who you prank next, or your next breakfast might be a bit more potent than usually!” Stiles laughed, shaking his head. The rest of the guests and pack chimed in laughing as well. Even Derek who was manning the barbeque, quirked a little smile. 

Seeing that, Stiles grin grew even bigger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my God guys. Seriously. The reception I got for this story is just beyond amazing! I never would have thought anyone would actually want to read what I write!   
> I have also planned to expand the House of Wolves universe a little more. I'm almost done writing this story, and a sequel will follow, as well as some additional oneshots that are set inbetween. This story is just too dear to me to just let it go once the last chapter is all typed up!
> 
> Also, I was at a Teen Wolf convention last weekend, and seriously, those actors are just amazing! Holland even recognised my Lydia cosplay and loved it, and Tyler asked if he should call me Lydia now! I was swooning, let me tell you! Just beyond amazing! I can't wait to go back to another con with them in June!  
> But enough of my rambling! Thanks again for reading!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone! This is my Christmas present to you guys. I also posted a little oneshot I wrote last week, so treat yourselves!!

“I don’t think I have seen the house this quiet since before it was finished!” Stiles stated, walking through the living room and the kitchen to the back porch a week later. Derek was sitting in the sun, a cup of coffee in hand.

“Everyone except for Isaac is out. Something about a group date, and Scott has to work at Deaton’s” the Alpha explained, taking a sip of his beverage. Stiles was surprised he had gotten such an elaborate answer from the werewolf. Even though they had kind of made up again, as much as you could make up with a constantly grumpy werewolf, but it was still a bit rocky between the two after the fight they had had the week before. Not that a fight between friends – or frenemies, or whatever they were – should require such a long pacification time.

“And where is Isaac? Why isn’t he here with you? You know, bonding over the empty house?” Stiles inquired. He didn’t want to argue again, but even after the barbeque Derek had planned there were still so many things the new Alpha had to learn about treating others like family. Especially Isaac, who really was Derek’s family now, should be bonded closely to the grumpy wolf.

“He’s upstairs, writing a list of things he still wants to have for his bedroom. We’re going to shopping for it later” was the answer he got. Stiles was happy with that. Maybe his words had hit the target with Derek. Maybe the pack would really become close now. Well, for that to truly happen, Stiles would have to work on himself as well. He would have to get closer with Jackson as well. He wasn’t perfect either, after all. But becoming friends with Jackson Whittemore of all people was something Stiles would really have to work at. 

“Well, that’s great. Should I write up a list of other things that are needed around the house? Linens, pillows, that kind of stuff?” Stiles asked, trying to get his mind off the topic of becoming friends with Jackson. He would have to take small steps with the cocky jock, very small steps.

“If you want to” replied Derek and turned back to nursing his cup of coffee. Stiles turned to leave the porch but before he had set a foot into the living room again he turned on his heels and marched back to Derek.

“Before I forget, I saw some really nice picture frames the other day when I was out. You know, for the dining room wall with the pack photos?” Stiles said and Derek looked back up from his cup of coffee. 

“So?”

“So? This is me asking if you want to go and check them out in the near future, so we can get started with the picture wall. I think it would be better if we did that sooner rather than later, don’t you think so, too?” Really, sometimes Derek was really dense. Or he just acted as such to get a rise out of Stiles. The teenager didn’t care why Derek was the way he was, as long as he didn’t annoy the crap out of him all the time. 

“Yeah, we can do that.” Dismissed like that Stiles turned back around and went inside and towards the office, where he knew he would find a pen and pad of paper. Then he made his way through the house, noting down things whenever he saw something they might still need. 

After half an hour he ended up in front of Isaac’s bedroom, his paper filled with various items that could make the pack house even homier. Not wanting to barge in unannounced, Stiles knocked at the wooden door and waited until Isaac opened it for him. The boy hadn’t been in the room since it had been completely furnished and be was curious to see what Isaac had made out of the spacey room.

“Hey puppy, you need help with your list?” Stiles greeted the younger boy and received an eye roll in return.

“Stiles, don’t call me-“

“I know, ‘don’t call me puppy’, I get it” Stiles didn’t let the other boy finish. 

Stiles let himself sink into one of the bean bags in the middle of the room and looked around. Isaac had really made something out of his room. Even though it was larger than a bedroom had to be, and had seemed a little lofty before it had been furnished, now that it was lived in it seemed warm, comfy and inviting. The surface of Isaac’s dresser was littered with pictures, both the ones the two had retrieved from Isaac’s old home as well as new ones from the pack, though the majority seemed to be of Erica and Boyd. Understandably, because Isaac was the closest with his two fellow ‘original betas’ of the Hale pack. Indeed, sometimes Isaac and Erica could be mistaken for twins, or at least siblings, they were so close. 

“Isaac, your room is really great. It’s like coming home” Stiles mused, and the curly haired teenager blushed a little. He still wasn’t used to the attention he was now receiving from everyone around him. The cocky exterior that he had donned right after being turned had been shrugged off and what left was an insecure teenager who had to learn how to trust again. But Isaac was getting there, and the pack would give him as much time as he needed.

Isaac had also become a lot cuddlier. He usually was the first to initiate a puppy pile while watching movies. Not that Stiles was complaining. There were few better things than a puppy pile.

“Thank you” Isaac mumbled and sank down in the other bean bag. The two boys were quiet for a moment, just looking around the room and reveling in the hominess of the room as well as the entire house. It wasn’t uncomfortable. Stiles had found out that Isaac was one of the few people he felt completely comfortable around not saying anything. He didn’t even feel like that with Scott all the time. 

“Are you coming with us later?” Isaac eventually asked, turning to look at the other boy. Stiles shrugged.

“I don’t know. If you want me to come with you to choose cool bed sheets, then of course, but I don’t have to. You know, it could be something that you and Derek did together. You know, bonding and stuff like that” he replied, but Isaac shook his head. 

“No, you gotta come with. You can’t stay here on your own” he stated and Stiles chuckled. Isaac was so concerned for all of his pack members, he could appear to be overbearing sometimes. To Stiles it was just cute how much he cared. He didn’t want anyone to be left behind.

Stiles could understand why Isaac did it. He knew how it felt to be alone. For a long time he had only had his dad and Scott. And even though the two had always been there for him, sometimes that just wasn’t enough.

“Well if you insist” he said with a laugh, and Isaac soon chimed in with a chuckle.

Together the two continued finishing Isaac’s list, and then sat down to play video games until Derek wanted to leave.

*** 

The trio ended up taking both cars with them, with Stiles trailing after the Camaro. No way would they all fit into the sports car along with the things they would be buying. No, Stiles’ trusted Jeep was strongly needed to carry the heavy load of linens, towels and pillows.

Once they had arrived at the store Stiles and Isaac went off to find the things on Isaac’s list while Derek worked off the list Stiles had made earlier that day. That way they wouldn’t spend the entire day in the store and actually be able to enjoy the nice weather some more that day. California was getting warmer and more stifling every day and it didn’t look like it would rain anytime soon. Stiles loved living in California, but this weather was starting to get to his head. What would he give for a nice cold pool in the back yard. 

An hour later the three met up again in the aisle full of towels. Derek’s cart was already filled halfway with sets of towels in different colors and it seemed as if he wasn’t choosing the colors randomly.

“Dude, coral towels? Coral?” Stiles questioned, lifting one of the towels out of the cart at one of its corners.

“For Lydia.”

“For Lydia? How do you know if Lydia wants coral colored towels? And why would you buy towels for her? She’s not really living with you, you know?” Stiles asked. Then he noticed the piece of paper in Derek’s hands. That was not the list Stiles had written up earlier. With a move that would make every werewolf proud, except for Derek maybe, because he was starting to scowl, Stiles snatched the list out of the Alpha’s hands and stared down at it. It was a list of all the pack members, with a color written behind their names.

Stiles: red

Scott: light blue

Isaac: purple

Erica: pink

Boyd: dark blue

Lydia: coral

Jackson: green

Stiles did not remember writing down his name on that list. And that for sure wasn’t his handwriting.

“Dude, why are you buying towels for everyone in their favorite colors, and how did you know my favorite color was red?” he asked incredulously, staring down at the list. He noticed their alpha’s name was missing on the list.

“It’s… it’s something we used to do. Everyone had their own colors… It’s a pack thing, for me” Derek admitted, taking the list back from Stiles. He didn’t answer the boy’s second question, but Stiles didn’t push. It was quite something already, to get such an honest explanation from Derek. It seemed like he really was trying to be a little bit more open with his pack.

Stiles was happy Derek trusted his pack enough to talk about things he used to keep quiet about. Little steps, they all would have to take little steps.

“That’s actually really cool” Isaac said, running his hand over the soft material of his purple towels.

“It really is. But what about you, Sourwolf? You’re not on the list” Stiles noted, looking pointedly at the man in front of him and Isaac.

“I didn’t… I didn’t know what color to take” Derek admitted after a moment of silence and if Stiles hadn’t hung onto his life and the use of both his arms, he would have cooed just then. 

“Well, which color did you have in the past?” he asked cautiously. Stiles knew that talking about his past was hard for Derek.

“Yellow. My towels used to be yellow.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have pegged you for the happy sunshine type of guy, but if you want yellow towels you’ll get yellow towels!” Stiles exclaimed, grabbing a set from the shelf and putting it to the other towels in the cart. 

Stiles, Derek and Isaac finished their shopping and then made to load the many bags into Stiles’ car. They would have to make another stop to get office supplies, binders more importantly, so Derek would be able to get the office completely sorted out. Stiles looked forward to the day the office was completely done, because he would then be able to move all the books about mythology and lycanthropy he had acquired over the last few months out of his room and into the office. Derek had been right all those weeks back; his bedroom was not the best place to store old tomes and books where everyone could stumble upon them. 

They were just about to get into the cars when Isaac’s phone started beeping. The wolf looked at the message he had received and a smile broke out on his face.

“What is it, Isaac?” Derek asked, and Stiles could hear a slight trace of concern in his voice. Why that was Stiles didn’t know, because the smile Isaac wore split his entire face. 

“That was Scott. A litter of puppies just got in at the Veterinary Clinic. He asked if I wanted to go over and check them out” Isaac explained. The boy looked as excited as a kid on Christmas morning. 

“Could you maybe… I know it’s out of the way, but I really want to… Could you…” Isaac looked down at his feet while asking the question that was so very obvious. He wanted to go to the clinic, but walking from where they were just then was too far, even for a werewolf.

“You know what, Isaac, if you make a detour to the house and take in the bags, you can take my car and drive yourself” Stiles said suddenly. He didn’t know what had come over him, but the look Isaac was giving them was doing things to him! 

Stiles had never let anyone else take his car, not even Scott, and here he was, offering Isaac his keys? What was happening?!

“Really? I- You never let anyone drive your car! Are you sure? I’ll… I’ll be really careful I promise!” Isaac let out, the words tumbling out of his mouth as if he didn’t have a barrier. Before Stiles could think about it any further he thrust his keys at Isaac and turned to the Camaro.

“If there is even the smallest dent on my baby I’ll have you clean the house for the rest of the summer! And now go before I change my mind!” he said and got into the other car, so he wouldn’t be able to see Isaac leaving with his beloved Jeep.

A moment later Derek got into the car on the driver’s side. Before he started the car he turned to look at Stiles.

“You just let Isaac take your car.”

“I know! What is wrong with me?!”

***

The next stop at the store for office supply was a much quicker stint, and before he knew it, Stiles was sitting back down in the passenger’s seat of the Camaro. Lunch time had come and gone, and slowly but surely the teenager’s stomach was starting to make itself and its lack of feeding known by grumbling loudly.

Stiles tried to ignore it, they were on their way back home after all, but his stomach was getting louder and louder by the moment.

“Dude, I’m really hungry” he eventually exclaimed, but was surprised to see that at that exact moment Derek turned into the parking lot of a well loved establishment – Annie’s, Stiles’ favorite diner.

“Dude, can you read my mind?!” Stiles questioned, but didn’t get an answer. He didn’t care. As long as Stiles’ was going to be fed he was happy.

Stiles was out of the car and at the entrance door in no time, and with a wave to the woman behind the counter, Annie, the owner of the restaurant, he sat down in his favorite booth.

The teenager was halfway through the menu by the time Derek slid onto the bench across from him, taking a menu himself and browsing through the options for lunch.

“Man, you really can’t imagine how hungry I am! I was starting to think I would have to die” Stiles stated, clearly exaggerating. The look Derek gave him called him out on his bullshit.

“Okay, maybe I wouldn’t have died, but I’m still hungry” Stiles took back his words with a grin. It was strange how comfortable Stiles was joking around with Derek. It really felt as if they were friends, even though the thought of being friends with Derek freaking Hale was a little disconcerting. He didn’t know if one even could be friends with the constantly broody werewolf. It certainly was not something that happened all too often. 

“Choose your food” Derek just said in reply. Seriously, the sourwolf didn’t deserve to receive the hilarious qualities of one Stiles Stilinski. He just didn’t appreciate it the way it should be appreciated! 

The pair sat in silence, choosing what they would eat until Annie walked over to them and asked what they would be having.

“Oh Annie, you know my usual! Double cheeseburger with Curly Fries and a Strawberry Shake” Stiles ordered, jumping up and down in his seat like an excited little kid. The excited part was true, he hadn’t been to Annie’s since summer had started, and he had missed the amazing food the woman always prepared. 

Annie jotted down Stiles’ order and then turned to look at Derek, who was still brooding over the menu.

“And for you?” she asked kindly, sending Derek a heart-warming smile. Annie really had a heart of gold. She was nice to everyone, no matter how grumpy or broody.

With a sigh Derek closed his menu and looked at Annie.

“I’ll have the same. There are way too many things to choose from” he said and Stiles erupted in cackles. Derek looked utterly defeated by the variety of dishes on the menu. Annie only smiled and noted Derek’s order down.

“I know. It’s hard to choose between amazing and incredible!” She said sweetly and turned to head into the kitchen. 

“You know what I just realized?” Stiles asked once Annie had left. Derek looked up at him and raised his eyebrows, his sign for Stiles to continue.

“Summer break is almost halfway over. And after summer I’m starting Junior Year! How cool is that! Finally an Upperclassman…” the boy said, his voice a mixture of enthusiasm and dread. He was excited to start the new school year, he generally liked school, liked learning, but it would also mean that summer was over. It also meant he would have classes with Mr. Harris again. If there was one person Stiles truly, truly hated, it was his chemistry teacher. 

“So?” was Derek’s only reply.

“So? SO? It means I have only two more years until I graduate! And then I can go to college” Stiles enthused, but sobered again after a second. “Well, if Harris let’s me graduate. Knowing that guy, he’ll probably fail me just to get a kick out of it and see me embarrassed. I hate that guy.”

“Harris? The chemistry teacher?” 

“Uhh, yes? How do you know my chemistry teacher?” Stiles frowned at Derek, who had leaned back into his booth, looking… actually quite comfortable with the situation. Huh, who would have thought Derek Hale would enjoy having lunch with Stiles and talking about school of all things!

“You’re not the only kid who goes to Beacon Hills High School, you know?” Derek grouched in reply, but followed with another explanation quickly. “Harris used to be my chemistry teacher, too.” 

“He used to- He was your teacher? Wow, who knew he was that old!” Stiles exclaimed and earned himself a kick to the shin underneath the table, as well as a growl.

“Ow, geez, calm down grumpy cat! It’s just… kind of really weird to think of you in high school. You know, all that ‘grrr’ in a teenage body, just… no” Stiles said, but his words didn’t really help him out of the situation. Derek was still glaring.

“Oh come on! You know what I mean!” Derek didn’t deem Stiles worthy of an answer. He instead asked another question of his own.

“Why would Harris let you fail?”

“Because Harris is an asshole and he hates me. Seriously, I don’t know how that man could become a teacher. He likes to see his students suffer, especially me! I’m telling you now, Lydia is the only one who is going to be graduating early, even though I would be able to as well with the rest of my grades. Harris will do everything to keep me in school for as long as possible. Even though that would be pretty stupid on his part. I mean, he hates me, why would he want me to stay in school? Wouldn’t it be smarter to get rid of me as soon as possible?” Stiles started rambling. The boy was sure the things he was saying were true. Harris was an awful person, and he would do anything to keep Stiles from graduating on time. 

“Don’t worry about Harris. I’ll make sure he won’t fail you.”

Derek’s words stopped the flood of thoughts in Stiles’ head. 

“What? Why- What could you do to keep Harris from failing me? He hates me, and no growling on your part will make him stop harassing me” Stiles said, shaking his head. Derek was just about to respond when Annie came back with their order.

“There you go, boys, eat up” the older woman said with a smile and then turned away again. 

Stiles took the woman’s words by heart and dug into his curly fries, shoving multiple into his mouth at once.

“Harris won’t let you fail because who won’t dare hurt my pack. Not again.” Stiles coughed at Derek’s blunt words.

“Again? AGAIN? What does that mean?” he exclaimed, lowering only his voice when he received another kick to the shin. “He hurt your pack? What, when, how? Derek!” 

Derek took a sip of his milk shake, sighed deeply and then turned his eyes up to look at Stiles.

“He was the one to tell Kate how to burn down our house.”

“HE WHAT?” Stiles had completely forgotten to keep his voice down. This was news to him! Big news.

“Stiles!”

“No, don’t ‘Stiles’ me! He was involved in it? I’m taught by an arsonist?” Stiles was getting excited, which he shouldn’t be, because they were talking about a serious matter. 

“He’s not an arsonist. He explained to Kate how to burn down the house.” Stiles could feel the topic they were talking about was getting to Derek, but this was all just too exciting to not talk about. 

“But he is part of the reason your- How do you even know that? I’m pretty sure he didn’t tell you” Stiles asked, changing the topic slightly. He didn’t need to remind Derek that his entire family was dead. Well, except Peter, but who would ever count Peter as family?

“Your father told me a few weeks ago, after we told him about the werewolves” Derek replied casually, as if that wasn’t equally huge news. Since when were his dad and Derek talking? 

Not that that was unusual, they knew each other, so why wouldn’t they talk to each other, but still!

My dad? My dad knew about that?”

“Of course he knows, and now eat your lunch. You said you were hungry.”

Realizing that this was the end of that conversation, Stiles did how he was told. He was still really hungry, anyways.

The two sat in silence, each eating their burger and fries, until their plates were empty. Only then did they start talking again. And to Stiles’ surprise, it was Derek who started the conversation.

“So would you want to graduate early?” Stiles thought about that for a moment.

“No, not really. I’d like to graduate with Scott and the others. And I don’t want to start college earlier than everyone else. I know Lydia wants to go study at Harvard or whatever, but I really want to stay here, this is my home. You know, college isn’t too far away from here, and I could study everything I want to there, so why leave home and pack if I can stay close by as well” he explained and Derek nodded. Stiles figured he knew what he meant about leaving home and family. And the pack was Derek’s family.

“So what do you want to study then?” Derek asked and Stiles chuckled slightly, taking a sip of his shake.

“Well, before all these shenanigans started I was dead set on studying Literature and History… But I’m probably not going to do that. Literature, at least. I was thinking more along the lines of Mythology and History now…” Stiles admitted. He was a little embarrassed to admit that his choice of studies had changed now that he was part of the pack. He just wanted to be useful to his friends. Everyone else would be able to fend for the pack, but what was Stiles supposed to contribute? All he had were his wit and knowledge, so why not garner even more of that and help out in that way? Stiles frowned when Derek chuckled. He swore he had never heard the Alpha wolf chuckle before.

“What’s so funny about Mythology and History?” he asked, slightly offended. Derek deemed him talking about his future the right moment to start laughing at him?! How dare he!

“No, it’s not that… It’s just… I’m considering taking online classes at college this fall as well” Derek explained, still grinning slightly, though the majority of the glee on his face had been reigned in again.

“Did you even graduate from high school?”

“Yes I graduated from high school. In New York, after Laura and I moved.”

“Okay. But why did you laugh?”

“Because of what I want to study?”

“You want to study something funny? You plan on going to clown school? I hate to break it to you, but I don’t see that working out for you.” Derek raised his eyebrow in a manner that clearly said ‘are you kidding me’.

“Come on, Derek!” Stiles was getting tired of this game, and usually Stiles was all up for games.

“I plan on studying Mythology and History, too.” That shut Stiles up. For a moment. Then he erupted in laughter.

“Seriously? You- we- oh God that is just great! You better be good in those classes or I won’t be able to copy off your assignments!” Stiles was leaning onto the table, his head almost on his empty plate. The thought of Derek and him having chosen the exact same thing to study was unusually funny to him. 

When he didn’t stop laughing after a minute he earned a growl from his opposite.

“I’m-I’m sorry, but who would have thought that we of all people chose to study the same things?!” Stiles was trying to get a hold on himself, but little chuckles still kept escaping his mouth. 

Why this was so funny to him Stiles didn’t even understand. 

***

Later that day, once Stiles had returned to his own home, he was sitting on the couch with his father on his beloved armchair, a rerun of Navy CIS on TV.

“Dad?”

“What is it, son?” Sheriff Stilinski turned to where his son sat across from him.

“Why did you never tell me that Mr. Harris was involved in the Hale fire?” Stiles hadn’t been able to let go Derek’s words from earlier. He just couldn’t believe that someone would just give out information like that to a stranger. Or a friend, or anyone, really.

“How do you know about that?” The Sheriff sat up a little straighter. He knew his son would worry about things like this. He had noticed that Stiles had gotten closer to Derek, he called them friends behind their backs, even though the two in question wouldn’t admit to it, so Stiles worrying about the Hale fire was a serious matter. 

“Derek told me. We were talking about school, and he said he would make sure Harris wouldn’t hurt his pack again” Stiles explained and Mr. Stilinski nodded.

“I didn’t tell you because it wasn’t any of your concern. I know you, Stiles, you are my son, and you would have just used that information for things I don’t want to think about. And you would also have worried too much about it. Like you are doing right now” he explained, and Stiles turned his head to look at his father. 

“But don’t I have a right to worry about things like this? He’s my teacher! How am I supposed to respect him when I know that he helped burn down a house and their inhabitants! Ten people died that night, Dad! Ten! Derek’s little brother was only five years old! How can he still walk around freely even though he helped murder these people?” he exclaimed, his cheeks heating up.

“This is exactly why I didn’t tell you. I knew you would be upset about something like that, and you have a right to be, the Hale’s were your friend’s family, but I couldn’t let you run around with that knowledge. I’m a police officer, I’m not supposed to tell you anything at all!” the Sheriff tried to have Stiles see reason to what he was saying. Slowly Stiles leaned back into the couch cushions.

“I know Dad… It’s just not fair… Harris is walking around freely and Derek doesn’t have anyone anymore” he murmured, eyes turning back to the TV.

“I know, son. But Derek’s got his pack… he’s got you.”


	9. Chapter 9

“This is unacceptable!” 

The pack had drawn all the curtains of the house to keep out the burning sun. The days had gotten warmer and warmer and it was practically unbearable to be outside. Everywhere Stiles went was too warm. He had resumed to sleeping in the basement of his home. At night, it was almost cool. But just almost.

Stiles looked up from where he was lying on the tiled floor of the kitchen. Lydia had stormed inside, dressed in the shortest shorts known to mankind and a bikini top. Once upon a time Stiles would have stared and maybe even drooled, but those days had passed. Lydia had become like a sister to him, his only human companion in the pack, and still lusting after her now would just be weird. Not that Stiles had anything against weird, but that would just be too much, even for him.

“Stiles do something!” Lydia exclaimed again, stomping her foot for emphasis. It made the strawberry blonde girl look like a pouting five year old.

“What do you want me to do? Tell the sun to piss off? I’m sorry Lydia. I might be a brilliant mastermind with a spark but even I can’t do that” Stiles mumbled, his head back on the cool surface of the floor. 

“I don’t care what you do! Just do something or I’ll have a heat stroke! The wolves are panting! Panting! They look like dogs and I don’t want to think about dating a canine look-alike! Tell Derek to do something about this!” Lydia stomped on the floor once more and Stiles felt the slight vibration in his head.

“Why do I have to talk to Derek? You are just as much pack as I am!”

“Because he listens to you! Tell him we want a pool! Get him to build a pool!” Lydia turned and left the kitchen, where to Stiles didn’t know. The kitchen was by far the coolest room of the Hale house, why the rest of the pack didn’t stay there as well was beyond the boy. 

Stiles sat up. Lydia was starting to sound irrational, and for her, that clearly was a sign of madness. He didn’t want to know what the next step on the scale to complete brain damage because of excessive heat was, and Stiles also didn’t want to test it on his friend. 

With a grunt Stiles got off the floor, slowly, to prevent his head from feeling woozy, and started walking through the house. Stiles didn’t know where Derek was, but probably not upstairs. It was even hotter there and Isaac had settled his bedroom into the movie room, at least until the heat wave passed. 

That’s where Stiles went first, into the movie room, but he only found Erica, Boyd and Isaac on the massive couch, cooling pads on their foreheads and breathing heavily. Lydia was right, the heat was even worse for the wolves than it was for her and Stiles. 

The boy moved on to the dining room, where he found the rest of the pack, sans alpha. Scott, Jackson and Lydia sat next to each other, Scott and Jackson calmly for once, with their feet in a tub of cold water. Where there ice cubes floating in there? The three were quiet. Instead, the wolves tried to keep from toppling off their chairs, their faces bright red and glistening with sweat.

This really couldn’t go on like that. Stiles wasn’t particularly fond of Jackson, but he didn’t even want to see the newest wolf of the pack suffering from a heat stroke, much less the rest of them. 

Stiles eventually found Derek in his bedroom. Stiles hadn’t really been in there before, only that one time he had helped with the boxes from Derek’s storage unit, but it was a nice room. Derek lay face down on his bed, limbs stretched out, a cool pack on his bare lower back. Stiles could see from where he was standing in the doorway that the alpha wasn’t faring much better than the betas.

“Uh, Derek?” Stiles asked, not wanting to startle the wolf. He didn’t know whether Derek had noticed Stiles or not. Maybe his senses were subdued because of the heat.

“Huh” Derek replied breathily, not moving from his spot.

“Lydia wants you to do something against the heat. She wants a pool” Stiles said manner-of-factly. There was no sugarcoating Lydia’s request. He knew it was stupid, where were they going to get a pool from, but he couldn’t deny that a pool would be really nice.

“If Lydia wants a pool she should get one. Or go to the public pool” Derek grumbled. Apparently the heat increased the alpha’s growliness tenfold. Who would have known that was even possible?!

“Come on Derek, let’s just all go! I can see you are not doing any better than the rest of the wolves and they are pretty much boiling in their skins! Scott and Jackson aren’t even arguing and it creeps me out a little bit” Stiles argued, stepping a little further into the bedroom. “Just imagine, a cool pool, ice cream, lying in the shade of a tree… We could also just go to the lake, we wouldn’t even have to pay for anything!” 

All Stiles got in response was another huff and growl. Stiles groaned. It was as if he was talking to a rock. A well toned rock, but a rock nonetheless. 

“Come on, Derek! Stop being so unresponsive! Care and provide for you pack!” Stiles knew it was a bit of a low blow, because Derek had been trying really hard since their fight to be more open towards the betas, but sometimes hard words were the only things that helped. 

Movement came into Derek and he slowly rolled over onto his back. 

“Jackson and Scott aren’t fighting?” he asked. When Stiles nodded he groaned and sat up. “Well, that probably means they are about to die. I don’t want any more dead people in this city.” With these words Derek got out of the bed, threw his cooling pad against Stiles head, who could catch it just before it his him square in the face, and walked past the boy and into the hallway.

“We’re going to the lake” he announced in a level voice, but the other wolves in the house could hear him all the same. Slowly, careful not to fall over because of their lightheadedness the betas walked around the house, packing bags with towels, blankets and drinks, and then gathered in the front hallway again. They were already wearing bathing suits anyways, the only clothing wearable in the heat they were suffering from, so changing wasn’t even necessary anymore.

As a unit the pack walked outside, Derek the last out of the door, and piled into Stiles’ and Lydia’s cars. The wolves were in no condition to drive, so without a word the humans of the pack had been assigned designated driver. 

With everyone strapped into a seat the two cars made their way through town and towards the lake at the other end of the city. 

*** 

The pack felt better as soon as they had reached the lake that was partially hidden by trees. They didn’t even bother with pulling out the blankets and towels before stripping out of their covering clothes and diving into the cool water. Like little dogs the wolves played, throwing each other around in the water, dunking each other under and splashing around. Even Derek grinned at the cooling effect of the water. They were all just glad to escape the heat, at least for a moment.

Refreshed and cooled down the wolves got out of the water again, laying out the many blankets that Stiles had stuffed into bags and wrapping towels around their shoulders.

“See? Wasn’t it a good idea of me to come out here? I told you” Lydia said and Stiles turned to his friend, water dripping from his hair and into his eyes.

“Your idea? I was the one to suggest going to the lake! You just wanted Derek to build a pool!” he argued, a smile still on his face.

“Oh don’t be like that! If I hadn’t said anything, you would still be lying on the kitchen tiles!”

“You wanted Derek to build a pool? How should he have done that, Lydia?” Erica butted in just then. The strawberry blonde genius turned her attention to the other girl of the pack, looking slightly disgruntled.

“I wasn’t thinking rationally in that moment. It was hot. I’m fair-skinned. I can’t cope with great heat” she said in a superior tone, trying to get everyone to believe her words.

“Lyds, you normally go to the Caribbean on vacation. How do you deal with the heat there?” Jackson asked calmly, having already lain down on his blanket next to where his girlfriend sat.

“I- you- Stop ganging up on me! I wasn’t thinking when I said that!” she huffed at last, letting herself fall on her back and closing her eyes to shield them from the sun. 

The rest of the pack snickered slightly at her words. Never before had Lydia been this…human? She always seemed like a superior species of mankind, it was nice to know that she too could have her moments.

The pack settled down on the blankets, closing their eyes and enjoying the light breeze that surrounded them. At the house there had been no wind whatsoever, so even the slight movement of air that they could feel now was already refreshing.

They stayed like that for half an hour, until Scott sat up on his spot and looked around his friends. 

“Seriously, we look like a pack of lazy slugs. Were-slugs. We should go back into the water, I packed a volley ball. Just lying around all day is getting us nowhere” he proclaimed excitedly, looking around for agreement.

“Scott, until an hour ago, we all lay around and no one said anything against it” Jackson replied in a condescending voice, not even deeming it worth to open his eyes. 

“Yes, but that was because we were literally melting inside our bodies, jackass. Come on! Stiles?” Scott tried his luck with his best friend, shuffling closer to the boy on the blanket next to him and leaning over the his body so a shadow was covering his face.

“One, Scott, don’t insult your pack mate, even if Jackson deserves it sometimes. Two, if no one wants to go in the water, then go by yourself. I’m not your babysitter. I just want to be able to sleep for a little bit. Do you know how uncomfortable it is to sleep on the old couch in our basement? It’s very uncomfortable. I haven’t been able to sleep properly for almost a week. So sorry if I sound harsh, but get lost!” Stiles grumbled, half asleep, but he still managed to shove Scott away from him. The shaggy haired beta let out a whimper, having not expected to be denied Stiles’ attention.

Stiles heard a growl and shuffling on his other side.

“Come on Scott, let’s get into the water” he heard a voice – Derek’s voice – say next to him. Honestly, Stiles would have thought Derek to be the last person to give in to Scott’s puppy eyes. “Let’s leave the slugs to their lying around.”

“I’m not a were-slug!” Erica exclaimed, jumping up and over Stiles body, missing stepping on his hand by only an inch. And just like that Stiles was the last on to remain out of the water, curled up on his side and drifting off to sleep, lulled in by the splashing of the water and the slight breeze playing with his hair. 

It was half an hour later that Stiles was rudely shaken out of his slumber by being thrown over a shoulder and carried towards where Stiles distinctly remembered to be the lake.

“No, guys, come on, let me-, don’t you dare throw me in the lake, I swear to God I’m never going to make you food ever again!” he exclaimed, drumming his fists against the back of his kidnapper. Stiles noticed the triskelion tattoo between the shoulder blades and immediately knew who was carrying him.

“Derek, let me down, please! I’m even going to make the peanut butter pie you like so much! Derek, Dere-“he pleaded, but his words were cut off when he splashed into the water of the lake. Had it been this cold before as well?

“What the hell man?” he shouted when he came back to the surface, sputtering and spitting water. Derek was standing over him on the platform that protruded into the water, grinning brightly. Holy shit, Derek was grinning. He was actually enjoying himself.

“You wanted to be let down” he said, chuckling again and then dived headfirst into the water as well.

Now that Stiles was in the water, he didn’t see a reason to get out again. He hadn’t noticed, but even lying in the shade of the trees was making his body temperature rise again. Being in the cool water was almost shocking. 

Looking around he saw all his friends splashing around in the water, ducking under the surface and coming back up right in front of each other, scaring the shit out of the tired wolves. The heat really had taken a toll on all of them and their senses were all a little dulled. And for a certain alpha, the heat had the effect of making him let lose a little bit. 

Derek was currently dunking Isaac under water over and over again, grinning brightly at the growls the young wolf let out every time he came back up. 

It was still weird for Stiles to see Derek grin. That was definitely something he would have to get used to because it seemed to happen more and more often the closer the pack became.

The pack was just about to start a game of water ball when a low grumble was heard overhead. Stiles looked up to see dark clouds moving across the sky, multiplying by the moment.

“Uh guys, I think we should get out of the water. Like, now” he piped up, looking from the sky to his friends and back. Another grumble was heard. Now Derek looked up at the sky as well. It was getting darker around them and if they didn’t hurry, they would end up in the middle of a giant lightning storm.

“Stiles is right, come on, get out, we need to pack up our stuff. This storm is going to be big” the alpha announced moving towards the shore and waving towards the other wolves and humans to follow him out. They had just hit the shore when Stiles felt the first drops of water rain down on him. Within seconds the drops had turned into a full on rain storm and the pack ran around like headless chickens, trying to grab as many things as possible at the same time and moving them into the cars.

“Put towels on the seats! I don’t want my car to mould!” Lydia exclaimed when Erica and Boyd made to get into the backseat of her Toyota.

Erica huffed but did what Lydia demanded before getting into the dry safety of the car.

Stiles shuffled Scott and Isaac into the backseat of the Jeep and then jumped into the driver’s seat as well. He didn’t care if the interior of his car got wet. He loved his car, yes, but it was a heap of junk already anyways, so what did a bit of water do? Derek sat down in the passenger’s seat, his hair dripping with water from the storm that was really taking its toll now.

“Thank God it’s raining! I don’t know how much longer I would have been able to live with the heat!” Stiles rambled while he took his turns to go back to the preserve and the Hale house. 

“You seem to forget that you are part of a pack of werewolves. This heat affects us even more than you” Derek grumbled. It seemed the time for grinning was over. Derek’s mood swings appeared more often than with a prepubescent girl.

“Yeah, yeah, sourwolf, you have it so much worse than me” Stiles mumbled, and immediately earned himself a glare from the alpha. Why did he have to have such great hearing?

“Just get us back home, okay?” Derek ground out.

To tell the truth, Derek hadn’t had so much fun as he had had with his pack at the lake in a very long time. Just being able to let lose, to joke around and pull pranks on his pack mates had been something he had done regularly back when his family had still been with him. Since the fire, he had only had Laura, and the catastrophe had sucked out all the joy from their lives. At least it had seemed like that. Laura had tried to get Derek to smile all the time, but she had never really been able to succeed. And after Laura had been gone as well, there was literally nothing left for Derek. 

But this, his new pack, this new family of his, this was starting to fill up his life again. Other people might think he was crazy for surrounding himself with a bunch of teenagers, but their energy and craziness was starting to rub off on Derek. More and more often did he catch himself grinning or smirking at something Erica or Isaac said, or Scott and Jackson’s incessant bickering. And Stiles. The boy just had a knack to keep everyone entertained. He probably didn’t even mean to do it most of the time, but Derek could feel himself light up whenever the human was around. Which was literally all the time. Even if the rest of the pack wasn’t at the Hale house, Stiles came by regardless, to hang out with Isaac or just to pester Derek. 

Not that Derek had anything against that. It was nice to have such life in the house again. 

It was still raining when Stiles parked the car in the driveway. Before Derek could hesitate he leapt out of the car and ran towards the front door, unlocking it and rushing inside, making way to let the betas enter as well. They didn’t get much further than the front hallway though, because Derek growled as soon as Scott set a foot on the wooden floor of the sitting room.

“You are taking a shower before you go anywhere near the furniture” he announced, looking from one beta to the other. Their legs were muddy to the knees from running from the cars to the front door and they were all dripping wet. 

The pack let the girls take a shower in the guest bathrooms first, so they wouldn’t bitch at having to wait in the hallway, and Isaac followed them upstairs to his bathroom, making sure to have stepped on a towel to shuffle over the wooden floor of his bedroom like that. He had to admit, he didn’t like to have dirt traces on his light wood floors either. 

Scott, Boyd, Jackson and Stiles stayed in the hallway while Derek took a shower in his bathroom downstairs.

The boys didn’t have to wait long until they could rinse themselves from the lake water and mud. While Scott, Jackson and Boyd climbed the stairs to claim the showers, Stiles was granted permission to use Derek’s bathroom. 

Derek just wanted the others to be clean and dry.

Twenty minutes later the pack met again in the kitchen. After the heat and fun at the lake they all craved something to eat.

“Stiles can we make pizza?”

“No! I want hot dogs!”

“Hotdogs are for losers! I want pasta!”

“We had pasta yesterday! Stiles, I want steak!”

“You can all make sandwiches for youselves! I’m neither your maid nor your mom” Stiles said, turning to the fridge and pulling out bread, cheese, cold cuts and condiments.

“But Stiles! Sandwiches are booooring” Erica moaned, letting her head fall on the table top. 

“If you think sandwiches are boring, then go home and have your mom make you something different! I’m not going to become your personal cook” Stiles replied again. He was getting slightly pissed off at the behavior of the wolves. Ever since Derek and Isaac had moved in, he had said nothing against cooking. He liked cooking, and he liked it when the rest of the pack liked what he was making, but it seemed like they were taking him a bit for granted. He was tired too, and a headache was making itself known in his left temple. All he wanted to do was eat something, sit down on the couch and then be able to sleep later, and he couldn’t deal with his pack mates right now.

“But my mom doesn’t even want me to be here anyways. She says I’m spending too much time with people she hardly knows and I behave differently now… I’m lucky I was allowed to come here today” Erica mumbled, hiding her face in her arms.

Stiles hadn’t known that. How should he have known that? Erica hadn’t said anything. With a sigh he walked over to the blonde girl and ruffled a hand through her wet hair.

“I’m sorry I said that. I’m just tired. Maybe you should stay home tomorrow, spend the day with your family, before the full moon in two days… And we should maybe introduce ourselves to your parents. So they won’t be able to say that they don’t know us!” he said, trying to reassure the girl.

Erica lifted her head from her arms, smiled tiredly and nodded.

Derek hadn’t known about Erica’s worries either. He felt bad for being so unobserving. His mother had always used to know if something was going on with her betas. Except for Kate. Derek had made sure no one knew about Kate. Every wolf knew that the Argents’ were a prominent hunter family, but he had thought Kate was different… It seemed Derek had been wrong. So very wrong. 

Derek’s thoughts were interrupted by a bright lightning striking. The wolves all cringed at the loud noise and looked around wearily. Derek could understand them. He didn’t like lightning storms either. He hadn’t met any werewolf that liked them so far.

“Come on, let’s just get something to eat and then go watch a movie or something” Derek announced, pressing his palm to Erica’s neck in passing and then pulled out plates and knives from the cabinet. Erica smiled slightly at the gesture. Derek could be so loving, in a very unconventional way. 

The pack stayed in the kitchen to eat, because Stiles wouldn’t let them on the couch with their plates. He wasn’t kidding when he had said that there wouldn’t come any stains onto that couch. (Yes, maybe it did make him sound like the mom of the pack but someone just had to look after this place!)

After the wolves had stuffed themselves, and they literally did, they ate an entire loaf of bread, such gluttons, they moved into the movie room and settled onto the couch. It had cooled down in the house, thankfully, so sitting amongst heat emanating werewolves wasn’t absolutely unbearable.

“So, anyone brought any movies to watch? I hate to break it to you, but I’m not going out to get some from home anymore. It is raining cats and dogs, and maybe even guinea pigs, and my hair just dried” Stiles announced from the middle of the couch, where he sat surrounded by Isaac, Scott and Erica. The blonde had rested her head in Stiles’ lap and the boy was playing with the long curls. He could almost hear Erica purring. 

When no one said anything in response Stiles sighed exasperately, lifted Erica’s head from his lap and crawled off the couch.

“Be thankful I always come prepared” he said while getting his backpack from the kitchen. Back in the movie room he pulled out his laptop and a connecting cable for the massive TV.

“I have most of my movies on here anyways, so what do you want to watch?” he announced proudly. What would this pack do without him, really?

“The Notebook” Lydia piped up without a second’s hesitation. Jackson next to her groaned and buried his head in the pillows surrounding him.

“No, please, don’t make me watch it! Derek, stop her from making me watch it” the beta moaned, shaking his head under the pillows.

“Yeah, I’m not really into that movie either” Scott agreed. It was probably the first time the shaggy haired wolf had agreed with Jackson. Ever.

“Let’s just each write a movie title on a sheet of paper and then we draw them one after the other. If Stiles has the movie on his laptop we watch it, if he doesn’t the next one is drawn” Boyd suggested calmly and Derek glanced at his beta proudly. Boyd was starting to become more and more confident in the pack. He could see the boy becoming his second in command in the near future.

“Boyd, my friend, this is a great idea!” Stiles crowed and rummaged through his backpack on the search for pen and paper. He ripped the crinkled piece of notebook paper that he found at the bottom of his bag into eight pieces, giving each member of the pack one. Then he wrote a movie title on his piece of paper, grinning slightly while doing so, and gave the pen to Isaac.

Once everyone had written and folded their piece of paper, Derek put them all in a small bowl that was on a side table next to the couch, and mixed the papers thoroughly.

“Who wants to draw?” he asked gruffly. He wasn’t really in the mood for these shenanigans, he just wanted to comfortably watch a movie, any movie, but he indulged in them for the sake of his beta’s happiness.

“You’re the alpha, you should be the one to draw” Isaac said sweetly, receiving a chorus of ‘awws’ at his words. Derek rolled his eyes but still pulled out a piece of paper. He unfolded it, looked at the name of the movie and groaned.

“Which one is it? Is it The Notebook? Please tell me it’s not The Notebook!” Jackson cried from where he was buried under the pillows again.

“It’s not The Notebook” Derek announced, earning a huff from Lydia and a sigh of relief from both Scott and Jackson, “It’s High School Musical.”

*** 

Derek’s announcement was met with groans from all the wolves and Lydia, and cackling laughter from Stiles. He had been the one to write down the movie, just for fun, what were the chances it was the one to be picked? But now that Derek had drawn it, they would have to indulge in it as well.

“Seriously? Stiles I hate you right now!” Scott moaned as he set up the laptop and connected it with the TV.

“Oh come on, you used to love watching it! Remember in 7th grade, you wanted to watch it every day, just so you could talk about it with Cindy Lauterman. You had the biggest crush on her!” Stiles said laughingly, grinning at his best friend, who was turning red in the face.

“Cindy Lauterman? You really could have done better, McCall” Jackson crowed. Did he just underhandedly compliment Scott?

“Hey, don’t be mean, Jackson! I used to have play dates with Cindy, and she was always really nice” Erica growled, shoving Jackson so he fell back into the pile of pillows he had arranged by now.

“Let’s just. Watch. The movie” Derek said with finality, leaning back into the couch and crossing his arms in front of his chest. His grumpiness had just multiplied tenfold in a matter of seconds. 

“You heard the boss. Let’s enjoy this piece of art” Stiles agreed, settling back into his hole of the couch, where Erica immediately settled her head back in his lap. 

They were halfway through the movie when Stiles looked around at his friends. They might have argued about the movie before it had started, but no one could deny they were enjoying themselves, at least a little bit. Jackson was following the happenings with a slight smile on his face, Isaac was moving his head with the rhythm of the song and Derek… Derek was mouthing the words. WAIT WHAT? Derek was mouthing the lyrics to the song? With one movement Stiles hit the pause button and turned to the alpha.

“What, no! Stiles, turn it back on!” came the protest of Jackson, but Stiles paid him no mind.

“You know the words” Stiles accused the alpha, who feigned ignorance.

“What words?”

“The words to the song! You know the words to the song!” Stiles was jumping up and down in his seat. This was spectacular!

“No I don’t.”

“Yes you do! Don’t tell me I’m stupid! I just saw you mouthing the words! How do you know the words? Derek- Derek are you a closeted High School Musical fan?” All eyes turned to Derek, who frowned and leaned back in his seat. Did he have to have teenagers as a pack?

“I’m not a fan” he said sullenly, hoping his words would end the argument. They didn’t.

“But you know the words to the songs?” Lydia asked now, a perfectly shaped eyebrow raised slightly. She was skeptical, he could see it.

“Yes.”

“How? I don’t even know the words and I watched this movie probably 50 times!” Erica exclaimed, pushing herself up on one of her elbows.

“Laura made me watch it. A lot. She even dragged me to the concert” Derek explained, closing his eyes, willing the memories to fade away again. He didn’t like thinking about New York and the time he spent there with Laura. It just made it more painful that she wasn’t there anymore. 

“But… But Laura was older than you. How did she like this movie? It’s for kids” Jackson asked, shaking his head. He didn’t notice that it pained Derek to talk about it. His senses weren’t that good yet.

“She… she really liked Zac Efron. Made me watch everything with him. Even Hairspray” Derek ground out He really didn’t want the conversation to continue. Stiles noticed.

“Okay, well, let’s just continue watching, right? I can see Jackson’s dying to know how it goes on” he announced, making the others shift the attention from their alpha to their newest brother. He hit play, but looked at Derek once more before settling into his seat again. The alpha sent him a grateful smile and Stiles grinned in return.

They were just starting to watch the third movie, Kick Ass, Scott’s choice, when growling thunder followed a massive lightning. With a bang, the lights went out and the TV turned off.

“What the hell was that?” screeched Lydia, taking hold of Jackson’s arm in a vice like grip.

“It’s probably just a power cut, but I guess movie night is over now” Erica said with a groan. She had really wanted to watch the movie, she had heard a lot of good things about it.

“Well, can anyone turn the light back on?” Lydia demanded, her voice a notch lower again and not as shrill anymore. 

“Yeah, I don’t really like this…” Isaac agreed with the girl, just as another lightning stroke and the wolves all flinched.

“I’ll see what I can do” Derek said, swinging his legs off the couch and wandering out of the dark room in the equally dark hallway. The only thing that could be seen of him were his glowing red eyes. Having night sight vision really came in handy sometimes!

“Yeah, I can’t really do much here. Must be a city wide power cut” he declared a moment later, walking back inside the room where the rest of the pack was still sitting and lying on the couch. 

“But it’s pretty late anyways and the day was exhausting enough, so why don’t we just call it a day. And don’t sleep in too much tomorrow, I want all of you to go home tomorrow for a bit, you are coming back in two days, and I don’t want you to be forbidden from coming here, like Erica” he continued, putting on his authority voice that left no room for arguments. His words were followed by yawns, so it was a unanimous decision to just go to sleep.

The pack got ready for bed, carried pillows and sheets in the movie room, like they did every night they all spent together, and arranged themselves on the large couch. The storm was still raging outside, and every time thunder rolled, the wolves flinched and curled closer together. Jackson more so than everyone else. 

“Everything okay?” Lydia whispered to her boyfriend, taking his hand into hers and squeezing tightly.

“Don’t like the storm” Jackson mumbled in reply, pressing closer to Lydia and burying his face in her hair, breathing in her unique scent. Derek reached an arm over Boyd who lay in between him and Jackson and pressed his palm against Jackson’s neck. The beta immediately whimpered and buried his face deeper into Lydia.

“Everything’s going to be fine, Jackson. The pack’s gonna be there for you on the full moon” Derek grumbled lowly, stroking his thumb against the nape of Jackson’s neck. 

Of course, Stiles thought. It was natural for Jackson to be scared because of the impending full moon. It was only his second one as a wolf, after all, and he didn’t know how well he would be able to handle the urge to maim and kill. But the pack had changed in the last month, grown stronger and closer, Stiles was sure they would be able to calm each other down and get through the night without anything happening. Stiles trusted Derek enough to know that he would have everything under control. He might have been a lousy alpha in the past, but the grumpy wolf was getting better and better at it with every day that passed. 

Like a unit the pack shuffled even closer together, tangling their hands with each other and making sure to touch Jackson in any way. Strength in numbers.


	10. Chapter 10

The day of the full moon found Stiles and Lydia standing in front of a bare, white wall in the dining room. They were the only people in the house. The wolves were all out in the preserve, already running off some of the energy that was building up because of the pull of the moon. Derek wanted everyone to be as tired as possible when the moon rose, so they wouldn’t be energized and maybe just sleep through the full moon. Wishful thinking, Stiles thought.

“And why exactly are we standing in front of a bare wall?” Lydia asked, looking over at Stiles as if he was stupid. Stiles looked back at his friend, a bright grin on his face. He turned back to the dining table and picked up the linen bag that lay on top of it.

“Because” he started, pulling out a large envelope, a hammer and a brand new pack of nails, “we are going to hang pictures.” Lydia looked at him as if he was stupid.

“Why would we hang pictures? Doesn’t Derek want to do that himself?” 

“Derek is way too busy with the puppies to think about hanging pictures. I talked to him over a week ago and still nothing has been done, so I thought why not do it myself?” Stiles explained and motioned for Lydia to follow him out of the dining room and the house, all the way to where his Jeep was parked in the drive way.

“This is why” he said, opening the trunk to his car, “I bought picture frames yesterday. I bought too many, I know, but I suggested to Derek we start a picture wall of pictures from the pack.” Stiles placed a bag of frames in Lydia’s hand and then took the remaining two. They made their trek back to the house and set the bags down on the dining room chairs.

“So if you want to start a wall of pictures from the pack, what are these pictures?” Lydia asked and pointed to the envelope. “As far as I know, we haven’t had any pictures taken yet. Unless you didn’t invite me for that!”

“Oh Lydia, Lydia, never would we forget about you when it comes to pictures. And really, I thought you were the genius of the pack” Stiles said slightly condescending. He was the only one allowed to talk to Lydia that way. It showed how far their friendship had come. 

“These are pictures of Derek’s family. They are as much part of our pack as Erica and Scott are.”

Lydia was silent after that statement. Of course Stiles was right, the Hale family was an important part of the pack, even if they couldn’t be with them physically anymore. For sure they were with Derek in spirit at any point in time. And if they were with their alpha, then they would also be with the rest of the pack.

“Okay then. I frame the pictures, you hang them. And please don’t hit your thumb” Lydia decided, turning to the table and taking the frames out of the first bag. 

“Knowing you, you’ll hit your thumb on the first try” she mumbled to herself. 

The pair worked in silence for some time, until Lydia picked up a new batch of pictures to be framed. At first she didn’t look at them too closely, but when she was making sure that the photographs were straight and center in the frames Stiles had bought, she huffed. She knew that person on the picture.

“Why is my cousin in these pictures?”

Lydia’s words disturbed Stiles and he hit his thumb smack with the hammer. With a chorus of expletives Stiles stepped off the chair and next to Lydia.

“Your cousin?” he asked, holding his finger under his arm pit to lessen the pain.

“Yeah… That’s my cousin” Lydia explained, pointing to a young woman with red hair. It was the woman that had caught Stiles’ attention before, when he first looked at these pictures. Lydia and she had the exact same shade of hair. “That’s my cousin Caro-“

“Caroline.”

“How do you know my cousin’s name?” Lydia asked confused. She had never talked about her with anyone. Lydia didn’t even really know her.

“Derek told me about her. She was his aunt. Peter’s wife” Stiles cleared up her confusion, but the expression that followed was worse- shock.

“What? She was… she was Peter’s wife? My cousin was Peter’s wife?” she exclaimed, sitting down in a chair. Stiles couldn’t blame her for the shock. He would be overwhelmed as well if he found out a member of his family was the wife of a reckless sociopath.

“Yeah… How did you not know that?” Curiosity got the best of Stiles.

“I… my family didn’t have the best relationship with her. You know how my relationship is with my dad. She was the daughter of his older brother. I never met her, only saw her in pictures. My parents told me that she had died, she and her daughters, but I didn’t know… I didn’t know it was the fire…” Lydia kept shaking her head, willing herself to understand the news she had just received. The psychopath that had terrorized her, had tried to kill her, was related to her. Not by blood, mind you, but still related. 

Stiles didn’t really know what to do. Finding out about something big like that sure wasn’t easy. He tried not to disturb the girl as he cleared the table around her. They had done enough hanging of pictures for one day.

Just then the front door opened and with loud steps and incessant chatter the rest of the pack entered the house. They stopped on the threshold of the dining room, looking at the pair of humans sitting at the table, silent. Amongst the wolves was, who else could it be, Peter.

Lydia’s breaths stuttered as she saw the man who had caused her so much pain and problems. She didn’t want to deal with him quite yet. It was too early. She would have to come to grips with the fact that her cousin had been married to Peter Hale of all people on her own before she could really talk to anyone about it, especially the culprit himself. She would have to talk about it sooner or later, but the night of the full moon really wasn’t the best point of time for it. 

“Everything okay?” Derek asked suspiciously. Stiles was sure all of the wolves could smell the despair and confusion on Lydia, and the helplessness on Stiles. He wanted to help his friend, if he only knew how. 

“Yes, sure, everything’s fine” he lied, and he knew Derek had looked right through him, but thankfully didn’t call him out on it. “Lydia just wanted to leave so she could pack a few things for our human sleep over. Right Lyds?”

The girl nodded as if she was in a trance, stood up from her perch on the chair and moved to her bag. She put her phone in it and hoisted it on her shoulder. Seriously, how one tiny human could carry so much stuff around was beyond Stiles. 

The wolves moved out of the way as Lydia walked to the door. Only Jackson stood his ground, looking at his girlfriend concernedly. 

“Lydia?” he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. His worries about the full moon were currently forgotten. He was more worried about his girlfriend’s behavior. “Is everything all right?” 

At Jackson’s words Lydia’s eyes finally cleared again.

“What? Yes. Everything is okay. I just still need to pack so I have something to wear tonight. I’m not going to be caught dead in one of Stiles’ gruesome t-shirts” she said and put on a smile that was so fake even a blind man could see right through it.

Jackson wrapped his arms around Lydia’s tiny frame and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head.

“Good. I don’t want you smelling like Stilinski” he said, meaning every word.

“I won’t, don’t worry. And don’t worry about tonight. Everything will be fine, I’m sure. You can annoy Scott if you have too much energy, just don’t ruin the couch, okay?” she said, smiling slightly, and this time it was genuine. Lydia even giggled at Scott’s exclamations at her words.

Jackson escorted Lydia to her car and the rest of the pack dispersed into the many rooms of the Hale house. To Stiles’ chagrin, Peter followed him into the kitchen, where Stiles started to pull out ingredients for sandwiches. He had decided he would make the wolves something to eat before the night, or they would probably end up chewing at the furniture.

“Lydia was distressed because of me, wasn’t she” Peter asked, his voice somber for once. Stiles didn’t turn away from the fridge when he answered.

“Lydia has to tell you that yourself, it’s not my conversation to have” he said, slightly colder than necessary, but he just couldn’t hold himself in Peter’s presence. He didn’t like the man. His past actions were explainable, seeing his whole family didn’t leave anyone unscathed, but that didn’t make them forgivable. 

“So it was because of me” Peter reasoned.

“I never said that” Stiles replied and closed the fridge with slightly too much force. The bottles rattled inside. Stiles didn’t see Peter leave but when he turned to the kitchen island the werewolf was gone. 

*** 

Stiles didn’t stay much longer than that. He finished preparing numerous platters of sandwiches and stored them in the refrigerator, so they would stay fresh. He knew Scott; he knew that his best friend wouldn’t eat stale sandwiches.

Stiles walked into the office, where Derek had holed up before the pull of the moon got too bad and he would have to rally up the wolves, looking over papers that Stiles had no clue about.

“Uhm, I’m going now. Don’t let the puppies chew on the furniture. And don’t make them kill each other. They might annoy me sometimes, but I want them back in one piece. All of them” he said, leaning against the door frame. His words elicited a small smile from Derek. He already seemed affected by the moon, differently to all the other times though. It seemed like lately, the major planets brought a better side out of the sour wolf.

“Don’t worry, Stiles. I won’t let them battle to certain death” he said sarcastically and Stiles grinned in return.

“I hope you don’t. ‘Cause I would like to be able to watch that, and not be rudely excluded from a pack exercise like that” he said, slightly poking at the fact that Derek had stood his ground the day before and had forbidden the humans of the pack to stay in the Hale house during the full moon. He didn’t want to risk them getting hurt, especially with Jackson, who was still so very new to the whole changing under the pull of the moon thing, and Stiles had understood that Derek just wanted them to be safe, but it still felt stupid that Lydia and he weren’t allowed to stay.

“I’ll sent you an e-vite” Derek said, now full on grinning. Stiles wasn’t prepared for the sight. Something awoke in his stomach and it certainly wasn’t hunger. 

Yup. The crush on the alpha was still present, and it was rearing its head just then. But this was not the time to think about it. 

“So very funny, Mr Hale. Maybe you should overthink going to college once more. Maybe a career as a stand-up comedian would be better for you” he said and rolled his eyes. Derek chuckled dryly.

“I’ll think about it. And now get out before the moon starts to rise” Derek said, his tone somber again from one moment to the next. “And Stiles?”

“Huh?”

“Look after Lydia. I don’t know what it was earlier, but I could see she wasn’t doing so well.” Stiles smiled at the alpha and his attentiveness. He really was getting better at the whole caring thing.

“Will do, boss.”

*** 

Derek called the wolves together half an hour before the moon was set to rise. He wanted the entire pack, well, the entire wolf part of the pack, to be together from start to end. Strength in number is what Stiles had called it, and the human wasn’t wrong. 

In the past, with his family, the full moon had always been spent with the entire pack, and even the youngest wolves had managed to keep from shifting some nights. Even Tristan, with his five years, and Ayleen with her four years, had been able to sleep through the full moon once or twice.

Derek didn’t think the wolves would sleep this night, but he wished for them to be able to stay calm, even Jackson, who had only gone through one other full moon, or Scott, who still had problems finding his anchor now that he and Allison had broken up.

But if they didn’t manage to stay calm, the rest of the pack would be there for them, Derek included. They had grown closer in the last few weeks, spending hours on end together had helped a lot. 

The betas all sat around the kitchen table when Derek entered last from the office. They looked at him expectantly.

“So, what are we going to do tonight? Hunt rabbits?” Erica asked with a slight smile, but Derek could see in her eyes that the humor was just to mask her nerves. She wanted everything to go fine, for everyone, but herself mostly. Erica had lived all her life being terrorized by her epilepsy, and after the bite she had hoped she would be able to take control over herself again. That it was taken away from her once a month again wasn’t something she was particularly fond of.

“No rabbits. Stiles made sandwiches” Derek stated, emotions void from his voice. The night was already straining his nerves, and it hadn’t even started yet.

It wasn’t that Derek wasn’t confident that his betas would get through the night. He was worried he wouldn’t be able to be there for them should they get restless. They had grown closer, yes, but had Derek grown stronger as an alpha? Strong enough to keep his pack together at a night like this?

“Well, sandwiches make really lousy prey” Jackson said dryly, and Derek could also see in his eyes that this was just show. Jackson more than anyone was concerned about the night. Understandable.

Just then Peter entered the kitchen as well. Derek hadn’t necessarily agreed to him coming along to the night, but he was family after all. No matter what had happened between them, no matter what Peter had done, he was blood. Derek had been raised to treat family as the highest good. And that included all black sheep as well.

The older man didn’t sit down on one of the empty chairs but kept standing in the door way, leaning his shoulder on the frame.

“So, what are we going to do? Hunt rabbits?” he asked and Derek scowled at him. He knew very well that Peter had heard Erica’s words from only a moment ago loudly and clearly. He just wanted to get a rise out of the alpha.

“No. Rabbits.” Derek repeated once more, making his way to the fridge and pulling out the platters that Stiles had prepared before he had left. He put them on the table in front of the betas, and he seriously thought they would attack them as soon as he had pulled his hand away. Surprisingly, they stayed seated with their hands in their laps. Even Scott who was eying the treats as if they would vanish the next moment.

Derek didn’t get what they were doing until a few moments later, when he put glasses and ice tea on the table and the wolves still weren’t moving. They were waiting for him, their alpha.

He didn’t really know what to do with this realization. He was flattered, and proud of himself that the month they had spent together had made them really recognize him as their alpha, but at the same time he felt uncomfortable. He didn’t want to be put on a pedestal. He had come across packs where the alpha had used the higher status to undermine the betas, and the betas had let them do it. He didn’t want to become someone like that. He wanted to be recognized as the leader, but he didn’t want to be feared. He wanted to be a friend, a brother, not a king that had to be waited on.

But he couldn’t deny that it felt good that the betas were waiting for him.

To keep them from waiting any longer, Derek finally sat down in his seat. He filled the glasses with tea and passed them out, then set the pitcher back on the surface. He was just about to take a sandwich when he sighed.

“Sit down, Peter. We’re having dinner” he said without turning around to look at his uncle.

The kitchen was silent for a whole second, until the legs of the last remaining chair scraped across the tiled floor and Peter sat down next to Erica and Jackson. 

Derek breathed in once deeply, then took a sandwich. As soon as he had taken the first bite out of the bread, the betas attacked the platters and started stuffing their faces.

It would be a long night, Derek was sure of that already.

Two hours later the atmosphere wasn’t as calm and collected anymore. The moon had risen, yet it still wasn’t at its highest point, so they hadn’t even made it half way through. Still, Derek was close to freaking out. Not just because the betas, and Peter, were restless, more restless than the month before, but also because Derek himself, the born wolf, the alpha, was restless.

Derek could practically see the animal within him pacing back and forth. He definitely could feel it.

But Derek had to concentrate on the betas. They were more important than him. Derek had his whole life as experience, and a strong anchor to hold him down, but his betas were still new to all this. Even Scott, who had been a wolf longest out of all of them. Thanks Peter. 

Derek walked upstairs and into Isaac’s room, where the betas were holed up, sitting or pacing restlessly. They weren’t strong enough yet to suppress the wolf’s urges to move. 

Isaac was the only one of them who sat still in his chair, busying his hands with cutting out random shapes from pieces of paper. What the boy would do with the numerous flowers and circles was beyond Derek, but at least he wasn’t shifting and shredding his bed sheets.

“You guys okay?” Derek asked, even though it was obvious that they weren’t. Erica and Boyd sat as closely together as possible, their hands grasping each other, trying to keep a grip on reality. They had each other as their anchor, so being close helped a lot.

“Okay? Okay? Does it look like we’re okay? We’re damn animals, we-I want to run, I want to fight, I want to chase rabbits!” Jackson snapped, turning dark eyes at Derek, glaring deeply. Scott nodded enthusiastically at Jackson’s words. 

Derek could understand them. Chasing rabbits was fun. But they couldn’t give in to their urges. Not yet. Maybe in a few months, when they had all become more in control and a close knit unit as a pack, but not just then. 

“I know you want to do something. But we can’t. We have to stay calm, or else you lose control” Derek tried to reason with them, but his words had the opposite effect.

“Calm? To hell with control! We are werewolves! We shouldn’t need to have control!” Jackson roared, making Isaac jump up in his chair, collect his scissors and papers and rush from the room.

Derek only looked after the blur of wolf. What Isaac was doing he didn’t know. But as long as it kept the wolf calm he didn’t care. 

Another two hours later and the house was close to being in shambles. Derek didn’t know what he was doing. Jackson and Scott had started to chase each other through the rooms, growling under their breaths, which in turn made Isaac start losing control. He had stopped cutting out shapes and instead wandered around the house, mumbling something about not being complete. Erica and Boyd were still clutching each other, their claws elongated and their eyes glowing bright yellow. Tears were running down Erica’s face and her sobs permeated the air.

Peter wasn’t making things easier. The oldest wolf among them was pacing around and around the dining room table, stopping in front of the half finished picture wall after every round, staring, whimpering and then starting to walk again. It was doing Derek’s head in. What was with his uncle? Yes, it was only his second full moon since coming back to life as well, but he had had a full life as a wolf before that. What had changed so suddenly that he wasn’t able to cope anymore?

That was a question Derek really wanted answered, because the same was happening to him. He had always managed to get through the full moon somehow, tiring himself out with an extensive run before the moon rose and then he would suppress any urges that came up, but he was having a harder time today than at any moment in the last few years. His eyes were starting to glow constantly and his wolf was growling inside him. 

Suddenly, a commotion rose in the front hallway. Jackson had finally caught up to Scott and had him pinned against a wall. His teeth were bared and he was growling at Scott menacingly. The two had fought often and hard, but never had Jackson looked so vicious.

“Where is she? Where is SHE!” he yelled, pressing closer to Scott, his face almost touching the other wolf. “Where is LYDIA?”

And finally Derek understood. He understood why Jackson was so restless and aggressive, he understood Isaac’s mumblings of something being incomplete, he somehow even understood why Peter wasn’t faring so well. And he might even understand why he was having a hard time himself. 

They weren’t complete. The pack wasn’t whole. People were missing.

It didn’t take Derek a second before the number was dialed and the phone at his ear. He didn’t even let his opposite get in a word before he ground out his words.

“You need to get here. NOW!”

*** 

Stiles and Lydia were sitting on the living room couch watching movies. Stiles was indulging the girl and The Notebook was on. Not that Stiles particularly disliked the film, it was a cute story, but had it gone after him, they would be watching Captain America or Avengers. On the coffee table in front of them stood bowls of peanuts and dried apple slices, again Lydia’s choices.

Stiles loved the girl too much to say no to her. Platonically by now, of course. 

Ryan Gosling was just starting to rebuild his house when Stiles’ phone started chirping from where it was buried under pillows. Lydia had made him put his phone away after he had looked at it every other minute, worried something had come up and they were needed.

The girl now looked at Stiles as he pulled out his phone from between the cushions and checked who was disturbing their human sleep-over. A frown made its way onto Stiles’ face when he saw the caller id.

“It’s Derek” he said simply, then accepted the call.

“You need to get here. NOW!” Stiles had to hold his phone away from his ear or else he would have been deaf. The alpha’s growl was deep and guttural, with a slight tint of desperation at the edges.

“On our way” was all Stiles said before hanging up again. He didn’t need an explanation. If Derek went back on his words to keep the humans out of the house during the full moon, something was going on. 

One look to Lydia had the girl standing up and shutting off the TV and DVD player. Her bag was still packed, the only things taken out were her yoga pants and the satin-y top she was wearing, replaced with her clothes from the day

“Can you pack the bags of chips together? I’m pretty sure the wolves need comfort food. I’m just going to pack a bag” Stiles asked, already taking two steps at a time up the staircase.

He came back a moment later with a bag half open and overflowing with stuff he had thrown in haphazardly. He had pulled on a sweater over his shirt, as had Lydia. Together they walked outside and into Stiles’ car.

“Can you text my dad to tell him something’s up with the wolves and we had to go there?” Stiles asked while backing out of the driveway, pointing to his phone that lay on the middle console. Lydia nodded and made to type out the message, putting the phone back down only a minute later.

“Can you please tell me what’s going on with you and Derek?” she said after a moment of silence. Stiles almost got whiplash from how fast he turned his head to look at her. Thankfully the streets were empty that time of the night, or else he would have been a hazard to the driving public. 

“What are you talking about? Nothing is going on with me and Derek” he replied, but the crush monster in his stomach was telling a different story. Thankfully Lydia couldn’t look inside him. “We’re getting along better now, but that’s it.”

“Don’t even try to deny it. You like him. And I don’t blame you. Derek does look good, there is no use denying it. And he listens to you, which is good. Some of the time” Lydia stated with a voice that implied that she knew everything and denying anything was useless.

“Yes, I like him, we are starting to be friends, liking someone would be a good start for that” Stiles rebutted. He didn’t have the nerves to talk about this now. He wanted to get to the house and know what was wrong. If something hadn’t been wrong Derek wouldn’t have called.

“You know exactly that I don’t mean it like that” Lydia said, slightly shaking her head. But she didn’t urge it any further. She, as well, was worried about what was going on at the Hale house.

Just then did they turn into the long drive way through the preserve of the Hale property. Lydia had opened her door the moment the car had come to a stop, and Stiles had followed suit. The bags in the back of the car were forgotten, the wolves were more important in that moment. Stiles was making up horror scenarios in his head. The wolves could have started fighting each other. Oh God, what is one of them was hurt? Or they could have gotten out and into the preserve. But had that happened then Derek would have greeted them outside the house. 

Lydia opened the front door and the sight the two humans were met with was disturbing, to say the least. Erica and Isaac were sitting left and right of Boyd at the top of the stairs, the two blondes clutching Boyd’s shirt in their clawed hands and sobbing tearfully, their eyes glowing bright yellow. Derek was trying to keep Jackson and Scott apart, who were changed into their wolf form, snapping their teeth at Derek’s arms and growling at the other beta menacingly. Peter was still pacing around the dining room table, as if in trance, and Derek? Derek was close to collapsing, his eyes glowing red and his arms bleeding from the scratches Scott and Jackson’s claws had left while they had tried to get past the alpha. It was worse than what Stiles had come up with.

“What the ever-loving hell is going on here?” he exclaimed loudly from where he stood on the threshold one step in front of Lydia. The noise from the wolves stopped immediately. It was silent for one, two seconds, then a completely different kind of noise started up again. Isaac started whimpering from the top of the stairs, his eyes shining brightly. He let go of Boyd and stumbled down the stairs, only to jump into Stiles arms, wrapping himself around the human and squeezing tightly. He kept mumbling ‘complete, complete’ over and over again, burying his head in Stiles’ shoulder. 

He hadn’t seen that coming, but oh well. 

Something he had seen coming was the transformation of Jackson as soon as he saw Lydia. Claws and teeth were gone instantly and he actually started purring when he was able to hold his mate in his arms.

It was as if everyone was able to breathe again. 

Over Isaac’s mob of hair Stiles looked at Derek, who had let himself slump down on the last step of the staircase, his arms still bleeding and breathing deeply. His eyes had turned green again. 

“Were the pups being a handful?” Stiles asked with a grin, ruffling Isaac’s hair, who was still sniffing at Stiles’ shoulder. He only received a large sigh in response. “I take that as a yes.”

Stiles shuffled Isaac into the movie room and onto the couch, where he didn’t want to let go of the human. Only after promising that he wouldn’t leave again was he able to leave the room and get his and Lydia’s bag from the Jeep.

When he came back in the entire pack was in the movie room. Even Peter sat on the floor, leaning on the couch with his back, directly at Lydia’s feet. Stiles had an inkling why that was. Since he had found out that Peter had been married to Lydia’s cousin, a lot of things made more sense.

Stiles made his way into the middle of the couch, where a spot was left open for him and immediately Isaac and Scott curled around him. 

“Can anyone tell me what was going on?” Stiles asked after a moment of silence.

“We weren’t complete” Isaac explained quietly, and Stiles smiled slightly.

“Well, we are now, so can we calm down and sleep soon, huh? How about that?” he suggested and received answers in the form of large yawns. Stiles let himself slump backwards and his head rested on someone’s legs. 

It wasn’t long before the whole pack fell asleep, the moon still high in the sky.

***

Lydia was the first one awake the next moment. She carefully extracted herself out from under the various limbs strewn across the couch, smiling slightly at Scott, who had Isaac’s hair clutched in his hands and was… chewing on them? 

The girl tiptoed out of the movie room and into the hallway, where she took her overnight bag and made her way upstairs and into a bathroom to get ready for the day. 

Freshly washed and dressed she came back downstairs some time later and moved into the kitchen, starting up a pot of coffee. The rest of the pack was going to be up soon and she knew they would all be demanding coffee. A lot of coffee. 

She was slicing up apples when she heard someone behind her. Her breath stopped when she saw it was Peter.

“You were upset because of me” he said, cutting right to the chase. Lydia knew exactly what the man was talking about, but she didn’t want to indulge him.

“I wasn’t upset.”

“Yes you were, Lydia. And it was about me. I know I have done a lot of things that could make you upset, but I’d like to know what it was this time” he said smoothly, coming further into the kitchen and sitting down on the chair he had occupied the evening before as well. 

“I-“ Lydia started, but she didn’t know what to say to him. She was scared of him. But at the same time, he was, somehow, a part of her family.

“You lost your wife” she eventually said, trying to make her voice sound emotionless. She didn’t quite succeed. Peter closed his eyes and swallowed when he heard her words. But he would be honest with her.

“I did. And two daughters” he said, trying to stay calm. His family was still, and would always be, a sore spot. 

“And I lost a cousin” Lydia eventually breathed out, trying her hardest to not make eye contact with Peter. He didn’t want to see his reaction to her words. She couldn’t see it.

“What?” It was silent a long time before Peter said it.

“Your wife. Caroline. She was my cousin” Lydia said, and this time she did look at Peter. The look on his face was inexplicable. Before he could say anything she continued. “I’m scared of you. I don’t want to be, but I am. You used me, you tried to kill me, and it will forever haunt me. But we had something in common. Even though I never really knew her, didn’t know how she died, Caroline was still my blood, and she was your everything. I want to, but I can’t look past that. Your actions aren’t forgivable, or forgettable. But maybe someday they can be overlooked, somehow.”

Peter nodded at her words. “I know what I did can never be forgiven. But knowing that we share something that was important to both of us, no matter to what extent is making me want to redeem myself. I’m sorry, Lydia, for what I did to you.” With those words he stood up and walked to the French doors. He opened them and vanished into the midday sun.

Lydia stayed standing still for a long time. She had heard what Peter had said. And she believed he meant every word. Something had changed.


	11. Chapter 11

“Veggie Burger? Stiles, what did I do to deserve this?” John Stilinski looked first at the meal in front of him, then at his son, then back at the burger. The disappointment and slight hurt was evident in his face.

“Letting your cholesterol get too high, that’s what you did” Stiles replied snarkily while setting down the bottle of water in front of his father. The boy could hear Kendra, his father’s deputy, snicker from behind her desk. The woman had heard this argument more often than she could count.

The sheriff let out a defeated huff and picked up the sandwich. There was nothing he could do or say against his son – he was right after all. And secretly John was quite glad Stiles was able to look after the two of them so well, even more so since the pack had really started to grow close. He didn’t know what it was, but it did Stiles good.

Stiles pumped his fist into the air in success. It was always a fight to get his father to eat healthily. He quite liked the light-hearted banter between the two though; Stiles definitely knew where he got his wit and sense of humor from.

“Yeah, yeah, get your pleasure on my expense” John mumbled between a mouthful of burger. Stiles just laughed at his father’s words. He knew he didn’t mean them.

“I take it where I get it” he said and slung his bag pack over his shoulder. He had stopped by on his way to the grocery store, to buy fresh produce for his dad, before heading to the Hale house for another of the pack’s many pack nights. Even if he didn’t spend nearly as much time in his home anymore as before, he still wanted to make sure it was well stocked for his dad. He was his only remaining family, after all.

Stiles waved good bye to his dad and Kendra and then made his way to the parking lot where his Jeep was waiting for him. The boy chucked his bag onto the back seat and got in behind the steering wheel. He turned the key in the ignition – and nothing happened. This wasn’t unusual for Stiles’ Jeep though, the old vehicle didn’t start until the third try most of the time anyways. So he tried again – nothing.

Again, nothing.

And another time, nada. 

“Come on, come on, come on!” Stiles chanted, turning the key again and again, but without success, not even a sound.

Disgruntled he slapped his hands on the wheel. Then he got out of the car with a sigh and walked back into the station.

“Dad! Roscoe doesn’t start” he exclaimed upon entering, marching right through to the sheriff’s office and letting himself fall into the chair in front of his father’s desk. The sheriff didn’t even seem fazed. 

“I told you often enough to get a new car. This Jeep is going to kill you one day” he noted, taking another bite out of his half-eaten burger.

“Don’t talk about my baby like that” Stiles grumbled, but he had to admit that he was a bit annoyed with his car problems. He was behind schedule as it was! He sighed again and looked at his dad.

“Can you call the tow service? They get here faster if you’re the one to call” he asked and received a chuckle in reply. Still, his father picked up his phone and only a few minutes later a tow truck was on its way to get the Jeep.

Stiles stayed in his father’s office, watching the man eat, until the mechanic of the truck entered the station and asked for him. Together with his dad they walked back out into the parking lot and to Stiles’ car. The mechanic shook his head when he saw the car.

“Why are you even still bothering with this piece of junk? It’s going to fall apart underneath your ass one day” he asked harshly and Stiles flinched at the man’s words.

“Don’t be so mean to her! She’s gone through a lot already” Stiles replied. Werewolves, Kanimas, if only the mechanic really knew what the Jeep has gone through, he would celebrate that it was actually still in one piece!

“Yeah, yeah, whatever! I’m gonna take that piece of metal with me, and I’ll call you about how much it’s gonna be to fix it tomorrow. Maybe then you’ll realize that it’s not worth it” the mechanic said, and without another word he turned on his heels and walked to the tow truck, starting it and backing it towards the Jeep.

Stiles took his bag out of the car and stepped back as he watched his beloved companion got hooked onto the truck and taken away. 

This really has happened to often already, but still, there was no way Stiles was going to be able to part with it. At least once did he want to take a date to the drive-in theatre with his Jeep. The hood of his car made a perfect make-out spot. He hadn’t tested that yet, but Stiles was pretty sure he was right.

“Do you want me to get a deputy to drive you somewhere?” John asked when the tow truck had turned at the corner. Stiles sighed, but shook his head.

“No, it’s alright. I’m just going to call Derek. I’m pretty sure he’s not doing anything right now anyways” Stiles replied, and with a defeated slump walked back into the station. He had been there a lot longer than he had wanted to that day.

*** 

Derek had enjoyed the quiet of an empty house with a book on the porch when he got the phone call from Stiles, telling him to come and pick the boy up from the sheriff’s office. Derek had been annoyed that Stiles had demanded him to get up and get him. Yes, they were pack, and pack was there for each other, but it wasn’t every day that the house was completely empty. Not even Isaac was present; he was at Erica’s place with Boyd. They would all be back later that day, but for now he had the entire house for himself. Not that he minded the rest of his pack occupying the many couches and chairs, bringing life into the large house, but sometimes an alpha just needed his peace and quiet to simply read a book.

But where Derek’s human side had been annoyed, his wolf had yipped in happiness. The wolf reveled in the fact that Stiles had asked DEREK to come pick him up. The man didn’t really want to think what that exactly meant. His wolf had acted weirdly a lot around Stiles lately…

But Derek still got up, put his book away and got the keys for his car. He had wanted to go to the mall that day anyways, so now he had the incentive to actually get up. For a person who worked out a lot and was busy most of the time, he could be quite lazy sometimes.

Stiles was already waiting outside the station when Derek parked in the lot. He couldn’t see the Jeep anywhere. Stiles hadn’t told Derek why he had needed to be picked up, but Derek could imagine why. The Jeep was and always would be a death trap!

Rolling down one of the windows, Derek looked out at the boy in front of the entrance doors to the station and said two words.

“Get in.” Sometimes he really felt like a babysitter with his pack. He wouldn’t tell anyone, but he by this point, he didn’t even mind anymore. Anything was better than having no one at all. Even a bunch of teenagers and a sociopathic uncle with murderous tendencies. 

Stiles started talking the moment he sat down in the passenger’s seat, but Derek did his best to drown out the teenager’s voice. That was easier said than done, though, because Stiles had a knack for getting everyone to listen to him, no matter if they wanted to or not.

“So now I have to pay for the garage to fix my car, again, and really, why is my car always broken? I blame your rag tag band of misfit wolves for that, I hope you’re aware. Last time I had to go get it fixed was because someone had ripped parts out of it! Seriously, you need to train the puppies better! And worst of all, I don’t have a car for an unknown period of time and- wait, Derek? The grocery store is in the other direction!” Derek rolled his eyes behind his dark sun glasses. He didn’t know anyone who could jump from subject to subject as quickly as Stiles could.

“We’re not going to the supermarket.”

“What? Do you even know what today is? We are supposed to have a pack night! Do you know what happens when the others get to your house and notice that there’s no food? They’ll go on a rampage, that’s what’s going to happen. They will probably go out and hunt baby rabbits! BABY RABBITS! You can’t, under any circumstances, let them hunt and kill baby rabbits! So we have to-!”

“STILES! We’re not going to that supermarket. We’re going to the one in the mall.” Derek interrupted Stiles’ mad-talking. How the boy hadn’t died of lack of oxygen with his immense talking was beyond Derek.

“Why should we go to the mall? I’m not really in a shopping mood and I’m already behind today’s schedule, so shopping really is a no-go today!” Stiles argued, turning to look at the alpha wolf. Derek rolled his eyes once more. This boy was going to be the death of him.

Derek’s wolf surprisingly didn’t mind Stiles’ questions and stupid talking. Strange wolf…

“We are going to the mall, because I need to get something” Derek spelled it out for Stiles. Why couldn’t he just accept Derek’s words as they were? Why did Stiles always need an explanation from him?

“And what do you need?”

“You’ll see.” For Derek, this was the end of their conversation. 

Stiles followed behind Derek through the mall, stopping again and again to look at shop windows and displays in front of the store entrances. Derek had to pull him away every few moments. For someone who was “behind schedule” Stiles certainly knew how to procrastinate his time. How the teenager still got things done Derek didn’t know.

“Derek, look! We really should have one of these at home” the alpha wolf heard from behind him and Derek stopped and turned to see what had caught Stiles’ eyes this time. The boy stood in front of a music store, his hands running through a display of various musical instruments. The one in his hands was… a rain maker. “Seriously, that would be the best activity for overly excited wolves. You know, like a ball of yarn for a cat… but for wolves.”

Derek practically hauled Stiles away from the display. The boy had just enough time to put the rain maker back where it belonged.

Derek wasn’t just annoyed with Stiles’ nonsense. The way his wolf behaved when Stiles had called his house ‘home’ enraged him even more. What was wrong lately? If his wolf’s behavior didn’t change soon he would have to talk to Deaton. Maybe something was seriously wrong.

“Seriously, Derek, you are way grumpier than usual. What the hell is wrong with you?” Stiles asked as he was pulled behind the alpha.

“Nothing” Derek ground out, not slowing his pace until he had arrived in front of the store he wanted to go to. A key service.

“A key service? Did you already lose your keys? Derek you’ve only been living in the new house for a few weeks! I seriously thought you would be more careful with your belongings” Stiles jibbed, grinning at his companion. 

“I didn’t lose my key. I’m having more made, for the rest of you” Derek finally revealed, successfully shutting Stiles up. The look of awe on his face made Derek slightly uncomfortable. He didn’t like, or really, wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of such looks.

“You’re having keys made for us? That’s the cutest thing ever!” Stiles practically cooed, and Derek growled to shut him up. That’s exactly why he had wanted to go to the key service on his own. 

“You gotta get in somehow, right?” Derek snapped and went inside. The alpha commissioned the man at the counter to make seven replicas of his own keys, six for the remaining members of the pack, minus Isaac, who already had his own key, and one for back up. They would come back to get them after getting the groceries needed for the pack night. 

In the grocery store on the lowest level of the mall the roles were reversed, Derek following behind Stiles, pushing the cart and grabbing the things Stiles demanded. 

“You think we should have popcorn tonight? I’m sure we’ll end up watching a movie, and what’s a movie without popcorn!” Stiles mused, standing in front of a shelf of microwave popcorn. He was just about to grab a bag when Derek shoved his hand to the side and made him grab a different kind.

“Sweet popcorn tastes better” he simply added and pushed the cart further along. 

“Aww, our alpha has a sweet tooth!” Stiles crooned, skipping along to Derek’s larger strides. 

Derek just sighed and kept walking. 

Their shopping was done faster than Derek had hoped, so the keys weren’t done yet. The pair brought the groceries to the car and then went back inside. Stiles had started to complain about being hungry, as so very often, and practically demanded to have something to eat. Derek rolled his eyes for the third time since he had picked Stiles up, but followed Stiles to one of the eateries on the highest level of the shopping center, a small place serving mostly Italian food. 

Derek liked Italian. 

*** 

The two had just started eating when the shadow of a person approached their table and stopped to Derek’s left. The alpha turned his head to see a teenager stand next to their table. Derek had seen him before. He had actually been made to take of his shirt, multiple times, in front of the boy to get him to help Stiles. Derek still wasn’t quite over that.

Stiles looked up from his pasta when he noticed Derek turning his head. A smile crossed his face when he saw the boy.

“Danny! Great to see you! How have you been? How was Lacrosse Camp?” He asked, his mouth still full with noodles, grinning brightly. Danny’s face contorted into a grimace seeing Stiles talk with his mouth full. Stiles really needed to work on his manners.

“It was good, but it’s nice to be home again. Tell Jackson to give me a call sometime. I’ve been home for two weeks and we haven’t talked even once. Ever since he started hanging out with Scott and you, we don’t really spend that much time together anymore” Danny replied, looking down at his feet at his last words. Stiles grin faded as he heard what Danny was saying. 

“Yes, of course, I’ll tell him. You know, Jackson is only hanging out with us because he has to, you know, after that whole saving his life thing. The only person he really likes is Lydia, and Boyd, maybe, because they can talk cars sometimes. Scott and me? He still hates us!” Stiles tried to reassure his friend, but his words made Derek frown. He didn’t want to hear that his betas hated each other. A pack was supposed to be a family, and family shouldn’t hate each other. 

Danny saw Derek’s frown, and smiled slightly at the older man. 

“Well, it seems like I’m intruding a bit. I didn’t want to interrupt your lunch date. Maybe we can hang out some other time, Stiles. I’ll see you in school” Before either of them could say anything in response Danny was already out of the door, his bag of takeout swinging back and forth in his hands.

Derek looked from where Danny had stood only seconds ago to his plate, then over at Stiles, who sat in his seat, slack-jawed and looking dumbstruck. They both didn’t know what to say or do. 

Eventually Stiles regained control over his features and looked at Derek, a frown on his face. 

“Does it really look like we are on a date?” he asked, and Derek choked on the sip of water he was just about to take. His wolf yipped and jumped around in happiness. Derek inwardly groaned at that reaction. He knew something had been up with his wolf, he just hadn’t thought that it would be that! But in hindsight he should have known, should have seen it coming. He was a born wolf, he had seen what that emotion did to peoples’ wolves. 

“I guess so…” Derek brought out, scratching the back of his neck. Everything had become horribly awkward all of a sudden. And he blamed his wolf for his feelings. There was just no way that he could feel that way… no, he just couldn’t. It would ruin the pack, certainly it would. 

Silence followed his words, until Stiles coughed slightly again. The food on their plates was completely forgotten.

“So, is this… Is this a date?” Derek’s wolf would have jumped out of his body if he had been able to. The animal wanted to take over Derek’s body, but Derek kept it on a tight leash. 

“I… guess?” he said again, and looked at Stiles for the first time since they had started talking again. The boy seemed conflicted; lines of worry were fighting with a slight smile over control.

“Oh” he simply said, and this time it was Stiles who cast down his eyes to avoid Derek’s gaze. The alpha wolf could smell confusion, but also a slight hint of happiness emanating from the teen. 

How had it come to this?! 

Slowly the two began eating again, but they kept silent. No one really knew what to talk about after that confession of sorts and frankly, Derek just wanted to get out of the restaurant and back home so he could get out of the people’s eye. He wanted to hole up and think about what had just happened. 

They didn’t talk on their way to the key service, didn’t talk when they drove back to the Hale house or when they unpacked the groceries. While Stiles started preparing dinner for the pack, something he had picked up on doing because he was of the opinion that no one except for him knew how to properly cook a meal, Derek went into his bedroom and lay down on his bed.

The alpha tried to get his wolf to calm down, but whenever he started thinking about what had happened in the restaurant the animal would start running around again, wagging its tail and yipping happily. Would anyone be able to see him, they would never think that such an exuberant animal belonged to a person so very broody.

Did Derek mind that everyone thought they had been on a date? He wanted his first answer to be yes, he did in fact mind very much, but then he would be lying. He didn’t mind. Not at all, if he was really honest with himself.

Somewhere along the line Stiles’ and his relationship had changed. They had gotten to know each other better, had come to an understanding, and if Derek had to choose who to be stranded on a deserted island with, it would probably Stiles. (Sorry Isaac, but Stiles would at least be able to entertain him!)

They had started to respect each other and come to depend on each other. They had become brothers in a pack, had even become friends. Who would have thought the two of them would ever become friends?!

And then, something had changed for Derek, or at least, for Derek’s wolf. Derek himself hadn’t really realized something had changed until just then. But animals were always more perceptive.

Derek stayed in his bed, away from Stiles and the awkward tension between them, until he heard the door open and some of the betas arrive, Isaac, followed by Erica and Boyd. He knew Scott had to work longer at the veterinary clinic that day and so would stop by later, and Jackson and Lydia? Well, they always were ‘fashionably late’. Why on earth had he started a pack of teen wolves again?

When the noise from outside his room’s door got louder Derek got up, changed into a more comfortable shirt and then faced the crowd. Everyone acted normally, as if nothing dramatically had happened, and really, for them nothing had changed, but oh so very much for Stiles and him. Their entire dynamic was off balance. They used to work like a well oiled machine, and now there was a gap between two of the wheels and nothing worked anymore. Nothing at all.

The rest of the pack didn’t notice it, such amateurs, but Derek immediately noticed Stiles change in behavior. Where he usually was loud, he now was even louder. Where he was jumpy the rest of the time, he was simply unable to sit still now. 

And all of this because of him. Because people thought they had been on a date. (Yes, wolf, it is okay, we know you like that word!)

*** 

Derek was staying away from him, Stiles could see right through the wolf. As soon as they had been done unpacking the bags from the supermarket, he had excused himself and holed himself up in his bedroom.

Stiles couldn’t blame him. What else would you do if people thought you had been on a date with Stiles Stilinski of all people? Really, Stiles was sure Derek would have been fine with any other person, but Stiles? No way!

They had become some sort of friends, yes, but Stiles would be foolish to think there was anything else between them. Really, Derek could barely tolerate Stiles most of the time, why would he want to go on a date with him?

Stiles on the other hand… He had been shocked, yes, when Danny had assumed they had been on a date, but he had also been pleasantly surprised. 

Stiles had come to acknowledge the fact that he had had a crush on Derek pretty much since that day he saw him in the preserve. All broody and dark, who wouldn’t have an instant crush on someone like Derek?

And Stiles hadn’t really done anything to stop the crush from growing. It had never hurt anyone, and no one had ever assumed anything, so why worry? 

After they had become some sort of friends, Stiles had tried to stop the crush, but really, who could stop a crush once it was in full bloom?

Stiles just hoped the awkward tension between them would wash over soon and everything would be forgotten. He didn’t want the pack to suffer because the two of them couldn’t get a grip. 

Stiles cheered up a little bit when the rest of the pack arrived and turned his brain away from thinking about what had happened. He had fun joking around with them, and when they all, except Derek, who stayed completely silent during the entire pack night, complimented him on his cooking, his heart swelled a little bit. He liked cooking for the wolves, it was fun.

And when it was his turn to decide which movie to watch, he was finally able to educate Scott and Lydia on the art of Star Wars. He made the pack watch the first two movies, but stopped every so often to explain details of the certain scene to bombard the pack with useless facts and trivia that would be forgotten by the end of the night anyways.

It took them well into the late evening to watch the movies, and once not only Isaac, but Erica and Jackson as well, had started to doze off, Stiles had decided that it would be alright to call it a day. 

They removed to cushions from the couch and spread sheets over the mattress, then got in and tangled their limbs together to form a puppy pile that could win championships. The only one who wasn’t tangled into the mess of people, but was still touching every member of the pack, even Stiles, to his surprise, was Derek. He had curled around the pile, arms stretched out to reach everyone. 

Stiles tried his best, he really did, but as soon as the room had grown quiet and the even breaths of the wolves permeated the air, Stiles’ brain had started working in overdrive again. Around and around went his thoughts, replaying the conversation in the restaurant and analyzing every movement and face Derek had made since Danny had proclaimed they were on a date. 

Eventually he had enough. There was no use lying around when there was no sleep in sight anyways. Carefully he got out of their makeshift bed, trying his hardest not to wake anyone up, and slipped out of the room and into the kitchen. He suddenly craved hot chocolate, so Stiles busied himself with heating up milk and stirring in the cocoa powder. When his mug of deliciousness was steaming, he opened the French doors and walked out on the porch, sitting down on the floor and letting his legs dangle from the edge. 

It was a clear night and he could count the stars in the sky. Taking little sips of his drink he began to calm down again. Maybe he was just overreacting. Maybe everything was fine the next day again.

“Why aren’t you asleep?” Stiles suddenly heard from behind him. He turned to see Derek stand in the French Doors, looking worriedly at the teenage boy sitting at the lip of the porch.

Derek stepped out of the house and into the light of the moon, walking over to where Stiles sat and plopped down next to him.

Stiles looked at Derek, then back at the mug in his hands and shrugged his shoulders. 

“Couldn’t fall asleep” he replied quietly, taking another sip of his cocoa.

“Why not?” Stiles could practically feel Derek’s gaze piercing through him. It made goose bumps arise on his arms.

“Too much to think. My brain wouldn’t shut up.” It wasn’t like Stiles to talk in such short sentences. He normally talked someone’s ear off, but with Derek, every word seemed like a word too much.

“I know that feeling. What did you think about?” Derek urged, and his admission made Stiles look at him again. Derek was talking about something he felt? Emotions?! He didn’t reply though.

“Did you think about earlier today?” Bull’s eye. Derek had hit it right in the head. 

“Yeah” Stiles admitted meekly, still looking at Derek. “I don’t want anything to go to shit” he added then.

“Why would anything go to shit?” Derek asked. Wasn’t he aware that everything had already changed between them? That their relationship was on the verge of being completely destroyed just because of a few words said by a dumb Hawaiian kid who talked without thinking? 

“You know exactly why everything is falling apart. You were there! And now you’re avoiding me like I have some kind of disease, just because you are embarrassed because other people thought we were on a date. I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry people assume you could ever stoop so low as to go out with little old me!” Stiles burst out then, putting his mug down on the ground and hopping off the edge of the porch to stand in front of Derek.

“I’m avoiding you? You are the one who wouldn’t even sit next to me during dinner or the movie! You are the one who didn’t even say anything when I gave you the key! You are the one avoiding me! Why would you think I would be embarrassed because I’m going out with you? We go out together all the time and I’ve never made you feel as if I’m against it!” Derek got up as well. He was agitated, Stiles could see.

Maybe he had been completely wrong after all…

“What?” was all he was able to get out. He hadn’t thought Derek would have such a comeback. 

“What ‘what’? Have I ever made you feel as if I didn’t appreciate you being here? Have I ever made you feel as if I didn’t want you here?” 

“No, but… why would you ever want to be seen with me? On a date? I mean, you’re not… I mean, I didn’t think you were…” Stiles stammered. He was thoroughly confused now. What was it Derek was trying to say? Did he like that people thought they were out on a date together? 

“I’m not. But I don’t care. My wolf chose you, and to hell if I knew why. You’re annoying, you talk too much and most of the time I just want to strangle you, but you’re also you. You encourage me to get the pack into order, you kick my ass whenever I fail to be a good alpha, and you cheer me up when I’m down. Hell, you’re the only one I ever showed pictures of my family to because I wanted to! So no, I don’t have anything against being seen with you, date or not!” 

Stiles was incapable of speaking. Was this actually happening? Was this some kind of wolfish declaration of love? Was he actually hearing things correctly?

“Wha-what?”

“Don’t act stupid. I know you have a crush on me. I can smell it on you. I know you don’t mind going out with me, even though you act as if it’s a huge burden to you” Derek countered, and his words got Stiles to start talking again.

“Are you actually saying that you want to go out with me? You? Derek freaking sex god Hale wants to go out with me? Why? And don’t say because your wolf wants to!” Stiles exclaimed, jabbing a finger into Derek’s biceps. It made Derek smile slightly.

“It is because of the wolf. But it’s also because I want to as well” he admitted, and the grin grew wider when he saw Stiles reciprocate.

“So we’re what? Dating now? Seriously?” He couldn’t quite believe it! Derek was his boyfriend?

“I guess so” the wolf replied, and his smile widened. 

“So does that mean I get to kiss you?” Stiles asked, hoping to God he hadn’t crossed a line.

“Guess so” Derek just said again, and Stiles rolled his eyes. 

“Stop saying that and kiss me!” Stiles exclaimed, stepping closer to the alpha and pressing his lips to Derek’s. 

It was different than anything he had ever dared to dream. Derek’s lips were softer than they appeared, and the slight scruff of his beard scratched Stiles chin and cheeks. But it was nice. Slowly he threaded his arms around Derek’s neck, pulling him closer until there was no room between them anymore. Derek wrapped his arms around Stiles’ waist and nipped at the younger man’s lower lip, letting Stiles erupt in giggles. When Derek released him, he pressed their foreheads together and grinned slightly. 

“Can we go to sleep now? I’m tired” he asked, and Stiles joined in his giggles. Such a mundane thing to say after such a breathtaking moment.

“Yeah, sleepy wolf, we can go to sleep now” he said, pressing another kiss to Derek’s lips. Then he let go of the alpha and turned to collect his mug. The pair went back inside, and while Stiles put his mug and spoon into the dishwasher, Derek closed the doors and made sure the house was locked properly. Then they made their way back into the movie room, where the rest of the pack was still sleeping soundly, cuddled together in a pile of people. There was a spot left open in the middle though, just enough space for the alpha and his new companion.

As soon as Stiles and Derek lay down on the couch the rest of the pack threaded around them, grasping hands and throwing legs over hips.

In the morning no one would notice that Stiles and Derek lay closer together than usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's getting close to the end guys... only two more chapters... =(


	12. Chapter 12

_‘I think we should tell my Dad.’_

_‘Your Dad already knows you are part of a pack of werewolves. What else is there to tell him?’_

Stiles groaned when he received that answer from Derek. Seriously, they had been dating… together… whatever for over a week now, and sometimes it didn’t even feel any different than how their relationship was before. But it was different, Stiles knew, and Derek ‘grumpy wolf’ Hale knew as well. Even though he liked to play dumb sometimes.

Stiles put away the controller to his xbox and picked up his phone from where it lay beside him on the bed. It didn’t take long for Derek to answer the call.

“I’m talking about you and me, dumbass! We’ve been dating for over a week now, and I feel like it’s important to tell my dad. I want him to find out from us, not from some random person in the grocery store, telling him his son seems to be awfully closely attached to an exonerated murder suspect!” Stiles rambled before Derek even had the chance to get a word in edgewise.

“It’s not my fault _someone_ accused me of killing my sister” Derek snarled once Stiles had finally ceased his talking to take a breath. “And the pack doesn’t know either.”

“It’s not my fault the pack is so stupid and unperceptive! Seriously, you need to train them better, or there will be a serious fallout next time some supernatural creature of the night decides to go all haywire in town. And I mean a bigger fallout than last time. Besides, my Dad is not part of the pack” Stiles rebutted, and received a heavy sigh in reply.

“Okay. You’re right. We should tell him. Even though I’m not too keen on getting shot” Derek conceded. Stiles chuckled.

“My dad is not going to shoot you. He likes you, strangely enough. He might threaten to kill you, but he’s not actually going to do it. So you’re coming over for dinner tonight? I’m making Lasagna, to appease dad. Nothing bad can happen when there is lasagna on the table” Stiles asked and a small smile spread on his lips. He hadn’t thought winning over Derek would be that easy.

“Yeah. I’ll be there. And Isaac, too. I promised him we would have dinner together tonight” Derek grumbled, back to his old, grumpy wolf, self. Stiles cooed.

“Aww, that’s cute! Family dinner with the puppy!” Derek didn’t answer. He just groaned and ended the call. Really, Derek would have to get used to Stiles’ outbursts if he wanted the relationship to last longer than another week. But Stiles supposed Derek’s exasperation was just an act. In secret he loved Stiles’ antics, the boy was sure.

A few hours later saw Stiles standing in the kitchen, stirring a pan of tomato sauce that would be used for the lasagna later. Stiles found cooking homemade meals to be really relaxing. His life had taken a turn from kind of boring and unspectacular to almost too exciting and deathly in such a short time, he made sure to ravish the few quiet moments where he could just read a book that wasn’t about how to kill some weird monster of the day, or simply just cook.

Still, he was a little nervous. That was a lie. He was really nervous, fidgeting from one foot to the other every now and again. He didn’t know how to talk to his dad about Derek and him. And Isaac would be there as well, probably asking stupid question. As much as he loved all of his pack, sometimes he just thought they were all dumbasses, who should be shot and kept in a dungeon to rot for an eternity.

Don’t tell them that, though.

And how he knew Derek, he wouldn’t be that helpful either. He would probably just sit in his corner, looking as if he was trying his mightiest to vanish into thin air and not say a word. Really, how Stiles could have chosen the sour wolf to fall in love with was beyond him! There were so many nicer people out there, like Danny, for example, but Stiles’ heart had gone out and settled on the grumpiest of all grumpy wolves.

But Stiles didn’t want to complain. There weren’t many people that looked better than Derek, and that certainly was a plus.

Not that Stiles was reducing Derek to his looks. It was just an added bonus. A large bonus indeed.

There was a knock on the door that ripped Stiles out of his thoughts. He turned from the stove and walked into the hallway, cleaning his hands on a dishtowel that he had in the back pocket of his pants. He opened the door and greeted Derek and Isaac with a bright smile.

“Food’s not even remotely done yet, but get in. The more hands, the quicker all the veggies for the salad are cut” he announced instead of a greeting and ushered the two wolves inside.

“I thought we were invited for dinner! Now we still have to make it?!” Isaac complained while slipping out of his boots. Stiles grinned at the boy’s actions. He always took of his shoes when he entered the house, such a little neat freak.

Derek did not take of his shoes.

But really, just imagine Derek on socks! Stiles had to press his mouth shut in order to keep from bursting out laughing.

“I never said anything about an invitation, puppy. And don’t be so ungrateful! Be happy I cook at all! We’re having lasagna” Stiles replied, swishing the towel over Isaac’s curly haired head. At the word ‘lasagna’ Isaac’s ears visibly picked up, and a slight smile spread on his face.

“With self made sauce?” he asked eagerly and when Stiles nodded he skipped into the kitchen, probably to sneak a taste of the sauce. Seriously, if Stiles didn’t knew that Isaac was already sixteen years old, he could think he was an overgrown six year old!

But the happy behavior suited the boy better than the arrogant, conceited manner in which he used to behave. If only he would become a bit more self-confident again. But he would, with time, Stiles was sure.

Derek and Stiles remained in the hallway, both grinning slightly at Isaac’s happiness about such mundane things as a self made meal.

And wow, how good did Derek look with a smile on his face?! Now that he and Stiles were dating, Stiles was finally able to have thoughts like that without having a voice in his head tell him that it was inappropriate to think such things about his alpha.

“You gonna stand in the hallway forever?” Stiles eventually said to Derek, just to get them to move again. Really, their relationship hadn’t changed that much from how it had been before. Stiles was just allowed to be cheeky towards him now.

Not that he hadn’t been doing it before.

They didn’t even really kiss again. With the pack not knowing about them yet, it was kind of hard to find a moment where they were just by themselves, without anyone barging in a second later.

But Stiles didn’t want to complain. He knew what was going on, and Derek knew as well. That’s what’s important.

Derek followed Stiles into the kitchen, where he first poured himself a cup of coffee, then sat down at the kitchen table, looking on when Stiles started finishing up the lasagna and Isaac started cutting the greens for the salad. When Stiles had put the dish into the oven, he turned and looked at his boyfriend.

“Can you at least pretend to do something? Go set the table! You have had dinner here often enough to know where the plates are!” he ordered, and from the tone he was speaking in you could notice that Stiles was slowly but surely really getting sick with nerves. He didn’t want to sound harsh, but everything had to go smoothly so his Dad wouldn’t freak too much about hearing his son was dating a man who was six years older and a werewolf to top it all off!

Derek probably noticed that Stiles wasn’t faring too well, what with his werewolf senses and all, and got up to follow the orders without complaint. Stiles breathed out deeply in relief. He couldn’t use an argument on top of all that was going on that evening.

The table was set five minutes later and the salad prepared not long after. All that was left was the lasagna in the oven and for the sheriff to arrive home.

Just as Stiles was getting out the hot dish, the front door opened and closed again. The trio in the kitchen heard a gun belt be hung up and shoes taken off.

Then the sheriff came in sight, taken aback by the visitors. Stiles had forgotten to inform him about the additions to the dinner.

“I didn’t expect anyone else to be here tonight!” John said in greeting, then turned to the pasta dish on the stove, “Is that self made lasagna?”

***

The foursome enjoyed their meal together, talking about what they had been doing the day and if Isaac and Stiles were looking forward to school again. Summer break had only a couple of weeks left and at the word ‘school’ both teens groaned. Of course, everyone could think of better things to do than going back to school after an amazing summer.

When the lasagna was completely gone, not that that was a hard feat, considering there were two werewolves in attendance, and even the sheriff had eaten his fair share of the salad – a miracle, so Stiles said – they all settled into the living room, leaving the dishes to be stacked into the washer later. John sat down in his old, beloved recliner and then shot the trio of younger men a look.

“Okay, what is going on? Is anyone going to die?”

“What? No! Dad, nothing is going on, no one is going to die!” Stiles exclaimed, sitting up straight in his seat on the couch and staring at his dad. How could he come to such a conclusion?

“Thank God! I just thought, with this delegation of the pack, you were going to announce that a rogue shape shifting bear had moved into the new apartment complex!” John explained, gaining a chuckle from Isaac in return.

“Do shape shifting bears even exist?” the teen asked, earning a chuckle from John as well.

“How should I know?”

“Dad, DAD! Seriously, nothing bad is going on, there are no bears, or panthers or sloths on the loose” Stiles interrupted the laughter, shaking his head.

How on earth was he supposed to start this conversation? Stiles looked over at Derek next to him, who was, as predicted, slouched on the couch, doing zilch to help.

“What? So are you finally going to officially tell me that you two are dating?”

Isaac, who had just taken a sip of water, coughed as the liquid went down the wrong way.

Stiles’ look of surprise, mixed with shock and disbelief, was worth a million.

Derek just looked at the sheriff, completely silent.

“What?” Stiles eventually brought out.

“You are dating, aren’t you? It’s nice of you to go to such lengths to tell me, the food was delicious, but do you really think you can keep something like that from your father for that long?”

“That long? What do you mean? We have only been dating since last week!” Stiles burst out, and Isaac’s head whipped to his class and pack mate.

“Seriously? Last week?” he asked, and Stiles was this close to losing all faith in humanity.

“Yes, last week! What on earth do you think?”

“Well, I just thought, I mean, you’ve kind of behaved… like, I thought you had gotten together before we moved… It’s just, it felt that way, to me at least” Isaac tried to explain, and Stiles’ jaw dropped once more.

“We’ve been together since last week” Derek finally spoke up, not that he was adding anything useful.

“Yes, Captain Obvious, I already said that!” Stiles snapped. How could everyone have thought the two had been dating all along while the two in question had been utterly oblivious?!

“Don’t be mean to your boyfriend, Stiles” John admonished his son, then turning to look sternly at Derek.

“Now, I’m sure there are a few things that go without saying. No biting Stiles unless he is completely sure that he wants it. You treat him with respect. The same goes for you, Stiles, respect!” John looked at his son to make his point. “And no funny business until Stiles is off age.”

“Oh my God, DAD!” Stiles exclaimed, turning red in the face, while Isaac looked as if he was close to vomiting. Why were they talking about that in front of him?!

“I understand, Sir” Derek replied, paying no mind to Stiles, who was still red in the face and looking close to passing out from embarrassment.

“Don’t ‘sir’ me, Derek. We have been on a first name basis for some time now. I just want to make sure that this relationship starts on even ground. I know where to get Wolfsbane laced bullets in case you hurt my son!” John said, but there was a smile on his face. “And if this is really something for the long haul, I expect grandkids, so get creative.”

“Oh my God, Dad, you are way out of line! Derek and I have been dating for one week and here you are talking about grandkids! Seriously out of line!” Stiles didn’t know how he had gotten into this mess. Maybe there was still time for him to pack his things and leave for Guatemala. He could start a new life there and forget about how embarrassing his father was right now. Maybe call himself Juan…

“I’m just saying, Stiles! You don’t have to start filling out adoption papers right away, but in five, seven years, when you are both settled into a career, a granddaughter would be nice. Just imagine a little girl with pigtails running around in that large house of yours.”

“Please just stop talking, okay, or I might rethink this whole thing right here and now!” Stiles muttered, burying his head in his hands. He heard a slight chuckle and felt a hand rest on Stiles’ shoulder blade. Stiles came back up and leaned on Derek’s shoulder, heaving a sigh as if he had just managed to do the most impossible feat. Derek took Stiles hand and squeezed it lightly. It had gone over a lot better than thought.

“So, if you have kids, am I going to be an uncle or more of a brother? Since Derek’s my guardian and all…”

“Isaac, shut up!”

***

“Fair! Fair! Fair!” Scott and Isaac chanted in unison, skipping through the house, making everyone else go slightly crazy.

“If the two of you don’t stop this you are not going to the fair, but to Deaton to get a new vaccination” Lydia exclaimed, running her hands through her hair in exasperation. Stiles chuckled at his friend’s words. He was going slightly nuts with the wolves’ chanting as well, but he could understand their excitement. A fair didn’t come up on their schedule every day.

“But Lydia! Aren’t you excited? Cotton Candy, and Ferris Wheels and Bumper Cars. And Hot Dogs!” Isaac gushed, grinning all over his face. A slight smile broke out on Lydia’s face as well. She might not admit to it, but Cotton Candy was one of her favorites.

“Yeah Lydia! Aren’t you excited?” Stiles asked as well when the others arrived in the hallway, where Stiles was rummaging through a drawer for a backpack. He knew he had put one in the dresser, but he just couldn’t find it.

“Hm. I don’t know if I can be excited about a bunch of people in the same space, all sweaty and stinking of junk food” the girl replied, stemming her hands into her waist. Stiles just smiled at her friend. He was one of the few people who actually knew that Lydia enjoyed other things than fashion.

“If you guys don’t get out of the house in the next two minutes we’re not going anywhere” Derek announced then, coming back in from the front yard.

That was the charm. Isaac and Scott ran past the rest of them out of the door, Lydia following behind more slowly. That left Derek and Stiles behind.

“Are you coming?” Derek asked with a less harsh tone, and Stiles looked at the man in front of him, a look on his face that screamed ‘done with the day already’.

“One, I feel like a baby sitter with Scott and Isaac this excited. Two, I would be coming, if only I found the backpack I put in here last week” he explained. Derek chuckled slightly.

“Why do you think you are part of this pack? Someone needs to look after the pups!” Derek joked, actually joked!, and held out a hand for Stiles to get up. “And the backpack is already in the car.”

“You could have told me that before I emptied the entire drawer!” Stiles argued, but took the offered hand to be pulled to his feet. “And you all love me; that’s why I’m part of the pack.”

Stiles didn’t get another answer.

The pack divided into two cars, Derek and Stiles driving, making the boy think again that he was some kind of child care personnel. But he didn’t want to argue anymore. He just wanted to enjoy the last big event of the summer break. There were only two weeks left until all of them would have to go back to school. Stiles really didn’t want to think about that.

And actually, Stiles didn’t mind caring for the pack that much. He liked having more people than just his dad around him, and he would go to great lengths to make sure his pack was okay. He just liked to nag sometimes, to keep up the façade of the badass human sidekick. Not that that was necessary. Everyone knew how much he cared for the others.

With Scott, Boyd and Erica in his car, the foursome blasted music loudly and sang along to every song that came on the radio. They would have fun that day, and that would already start at the two hour drive to the festival ground. Why there wasn’t a fair closer to Beacon Hills Stiles would never understand.

It was probably for the best, though, because if there was, Stiles would never go to school anymore and just stay at the fair forever.

After they had arrived at the fair, with an hour delay, because there was a massive congestion on the street, the group decided to separate into smaller groups. While Stiles, Scott and Isaac wanted to go on every single ride the fair had to offer, the girls wanted to go look at the little booths of jewelry and clothes. That left Jackson, Boyd and Derek, who decided to just see where they would end up.

Stiles didn’t think Derek would be the type to go with the flow. It seemed he learned new things about his boyfriend every day.

Stiles, Isaac and Scott made their way to the bumper cars first. They each took one car and started driving, crashing into each other and having a blast. It made Stiles forget school was close by, and Scott was even able to forget about Allison for a moment. A moment.

“I wish Allison was here with us” Scott sighed when they were making their way to the rollercoaster. It made Stiles groan and Isaac wince slightly.

“Scott! We have heard you whine about her the entire summer! You are going to see her soon enough, once school starts again. Even though I would say you keep away from her. In case you have forgotten, she tried to kill all of you!” Stiles exclaimed, noticing Isaac wincing again. The wolf was still not over what had happened with Allison before summer. How could he, he had been stabbed by her. Multiple times. Stiles took the boy’s hand and squeezed it tight, earning a slight smile.

Scott sighed deeply. Stiles knew that sooner or later he and Allison would get back together, and he really didn’t have anything against it. Scott and Allison were made for each other, and she was usually a very nice girl, a good friend, but he still hadn’t forgiven her for what she had done. He could understand a little why she had gone off the deep end, losing a parent was damn hard, but that still didn’t excuse it.

An hour later the pack met up again, both girls carrying little bags from the booths they had been looking at, Scott a little green in the face because they had just gotten off a rollercoaster with 3 loops. Stiles had cackled in joy when he had seen how awful his best friend was faring. It was ironic how a werewolf, who found joy chasing and killing rabbits, couldn’t get off a rollercoaster without vomiting in the first trash can in sight.

“You smell like a dumpster” Jackson noted when they met up in the food section. The thought of food made Scott dry heave again, so he didn’t even answer Jackson’s stupid remark.

The newest wolf was right, though. Even without an enhanced sense of smell Stiles could make out the distinct odors of rotten food from the trash can Scott had hugged after their ride on the rollercoaster.

The pack started walking through the many aisles of food, Scott trailing behind them, hugging the empty bucket of popcorn Boyd had handed him just in case he had to vomit again.

It was almost cute how caring everyone was in the pack. Everyone except Jackson, but you had to have a black sheep somewhere!

One after the other got something to eat from the different stands, courtesy of Derek, because he was the alpha and had to feed his pack; that were his instincts. Even Scott dared getting a pretzel to soothe his stomach. He reasoned that maybe he was just really hungry and that was why he had gotten sick. It was really just an excuse to get something to eat. These wolves could eat 24/7.

“If I could, I would eat this every day of my life” Stiles mused, taking another bite of hiss funnel cake.

“Yeah, but then you would get really fat and you probably would get eaten on one of the full moons” Derek replied with a grin, receiving a gasp in return. He shoved Derek’s arm, making him spill some of his root beer.

“You would never eat me! I’m way too valuable to the pack! Who would make sure there’s food in the fridge?” he asked, trying to appear offended, but the large grin on his face gave him away.

“Oh we could find someone else…” Derek mused, the smile still on his face.

“Are you guys done with your food? Lydia and I saw a stand where you can have your picture taken. And we don’t have a picture of the whole pack yet, so I think we should go and have one taken” Erica then announced, interrupting the ‘moment’ between Derek and Stiles. The rest of the pack agreed; they indeed didn’t have a picture of the whole pack yet, and it was about time they had one taken.

Throwing out the empty food containers and taking the rest of the food with them to eat on the way to the photographer, they made their way to the other end of the fair, where the shops and vendors were located. They stopped here and there again, mostly because the girls, and Jackson, wanted to look at more things, but eventually they made their way all the way to the outskirts of the festival ground.

The photographer there had set up multiple little sets, ranging from a simple backdrop with the county fair logo, all the way to medieval or Victorian set ups, complete with costumes and props. There even was a mermaid scene.

Eventually, the pack decided on a relatively plain one with logs and tree trunks to sit down on, with a forest backdrop. It seemed fitting for a pack of werewolves that most of the time hung out in a house situated in the middle of a preserve.

“Jackson don’t cross your arms! You look like a petulant three year old” Lydia ordered everyone around, making sure every member of the pack was seen on the picture. The photographer could just look on as his job was taken from him by a bossy red head.

“And, Scott, I’m warning you, if you fall off the logs the moment the picture is taken I’m going to castrate you! Stop balancing on one leg and get off there. You are standing in front of Boyd and Isaac. And yes, you have to stand next to Jackson, you will be able to do that for two seconds, got it?” Lydia sounded distinctly like Scott’s mom when she got off a double shift at the hospital. Scott knew better than to defy her.

The photo ended up being taken, and actually looked good, with Isaac, Boyd and Derek standing in the back, behind Jackson, Scott and Stiles, and with the girls sitting on logs in front of them. They were all smiling, and they had asked the photographer to turn off the flash, so the light wouldn’t set off the wolves’ eyes.

There weren’t even bunny ears from Scott and Stiles.

It really did look good.

***

It was nearing evening, and the pack was getting ready to leave for the ride back home. They had gone to the aquarium after taking the photo, and the wolves had found joy in flashing their eyes at the fish in the tanks, making them scatter in every direction.

Stiles had just really liked being surrounded by his friends and looking at a tank full of Nemos. He just loved that movie.

They were walking towards the field that worked as a parking lot when Scott piped up from behind them.

“Are you holding hands?!” he exclaimed, stopping dead in his tracks, making Erica run into him. Everyone else stopped and looked at where Scott was looking. His eyes were transfixed on Stiles’ and Derek’s hands that were indeed linked.

Stiles hadn’t even noticed when Derek had taken his hand, it had just felt really natural.

“Why are you holding hands?” Scott asked again, looking up at his best friend in confusion. Isaac started giggling behind him.

“Scott, you are a dear, but sometimes you are just really dense” Lydia noted. “They are holding hands because they are dating. Seriously, how didn’t you notice that? They have been together since before the move.”

“Wha-“

“We have not been together since then. Only since last week” Stiles exclaimed. Why did everyone think Derek and he had been together for that long already?

“Well, then you two are stupid and oblivious as well” Lydia remarked, and then started walking again, as if nothing at all had happened.

“Dating?” Scott asked again, and received a slap over the head, courtesy of Jackson.

“Yes, dating. That thing people do, with the kissing and hand holding and occasional banging” he explained as if he was talking with a toddler – though his words weren’t really suitable for children’s ears.

“Oh my God, don’t say that! That’s like hearing about your parents’ sex life!” Erica exclaimed, slapping her hands over her ears, as if that was helping her from keeping the words out.

Stiles could just stand and stare at his friends. Were they really having that conversation right now?

“There’s no banging, Stiles’ Dad doesn’t allow it” Isaac piped up then.

“Isaac Lahey, I swear to everything that’s holy, you shut your mouth!” Stiles shouted, gaining looks from the people around them. Surprisingly his words shut everyone up and had Isaac look down at the ground in shame.

Stiles looked at Derek, who was still glaring at the rest of the pack as if he wanted to vanquish them with his mere gaze. Before the alpha could do anything stupid, like start a fight with his betas in front of an entire county fair, Stiles took his hand again and started pulling him towards the cars.

He was kind of glad the pack knew now. He didn’t like keeping secrets from them, even though this had been a secret worth keeping. He liked having Derek to himself, even though he had only really had him in his thoughts so far. But now that the pack knew, there was no reason to keep to himself.

He would definitely demand more kisses. Because damn, that one they had shared had been really good.

“So is little red riding hood not allowed to ride the big bad wolf for the unforeseen future?” Jackson asked after a few minutes of silence.

“Shut up, Jackson!” Derek groaned, while Stiles turned bright red.

Yup. They would have to get used to comments like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> only one more chapter guys... I'm kind of sad to see this story finished... But I'm already planning the sequel, which is super fun!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you ready for the last chapter? I'm not!

“I think you should go home soon” Derek announced without any sign of warning. Stiles lifted his head from where he had rested it on the alphas chest, looking at his boyfriend confusedly. Stiles and Scott had come over to the Hale house that morning to spend the day with Isaac playing old school video games, and Derek had surprised them halfway through the afternoon when he had joined the teenagers and asked for a controller himself. Scott had left about an hour earlier because he had to work early the next morning and Isaac had discreetly vanished up the stairs once he had discovered there would be some couple cuddling going on on the couch. So that only left the alpha wolf and his companion.

“What? What's that supposed to mean?” He asked, a tone of accusation evident in his voice. Derek sighed.

“I don't mean anything by it. You've just been here a lot over the last two weeks and I thought you would like to spend an evening just with your dad. I know he's going to get home tonight from the station. And you're not going to be home tomorrow night, so I thought you would appreciate it” he explained, shrugging slightly, as if to lessen the impact of his words. Stiles didn't know if he was supposed to be more awed at the fact that Derek was looking out for him in such a fashion or because he had talked so much in one go. Still, the look on his face softened and a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He laid his head back on Derek's shoulder and grinned into the young man's bicep.

Then a thought came to his mind and he looked up again.

“Why am I not home tomorrow night? I didn't think we had anything planned for tomorrow night” he asked. It was true. Had they planned something Stiles would have known, because he was the one to plan pack nights, usually. Except for the days Lydia took over the day planner, but that usually ended in everyone being dragged to the Mall. Most of the pack didn’t particularly liked those days…

Derek smiled a little and stroked his thumb over the nape of Stiles’ neck, a sign of him showing affection. Indeed Derek had become a lot more tactile in the last two weeks, ever since he and Stiles had really gotten together. It was as if a switch had gone off, as if he was now allowed to be this affectionate with other people.

“Well” he started, the grin widening with every second that passed before he continued. “We are going out tomorrow.”

“We? Where are we going? Are we going out to dinner? Did you make reservations for a table for all eight of us?” Stiles immediately fired his questions, but quieted down when Derek flicked his ear. He was about to protest at being ‘harassed’ like that, but Derek cut him off before he could even get a word out.

“The pack is going to stay at home. We are going out tomorrow” he clarified and chuckled slightly when he saw Stiles’ jaw fall down. 

“We? As in you and I? The two of us?” the teenager eventually asked and sat up straighter. He hadn’t expected such an answer. “Why?” The question made Derek frown.

“Well, we have been together for two weeks now, and according to the rest of the people who know us for even longer, so I felt like it was time to go out to dinner” he explained, his tone of voice a little clipped. “But we don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“What? No! No, Derek I would love to go on a date! I’m really excited, it was just a surprise!” Stiles exclaimed, pressing his lips to Derek’s as a way of apology for his words. In hindsight he knew it had been stupid to ask why they were going out. He knew Derek was very conscious of the things he did and being so blatantly stupid did not help to encourage him with actually opening up. “I’m sorry I was stupid” he said and pressed his lips to Derek’s again.

“Yes you were” Derek grumbled, but let himself be kissed without complaint. After another few moments on the couch Derek sat up and pushed Stiles to his feet.

“I wasn’t joking when I said you ought to go home tonight” he announced and then walked out of the movie room, careful not to step on the game console and the many cables. Stiles followed the wolf into the hallway and made a fuss of collecting all of the things he had brought over, but eventually managed to fit his feet into his shoes and find his car keys.

“I’ll text you when I come pick you up tomorrow night, okay?” Derek said softly when Stiles opened the front door. The teenager turned back to look at his opposite and smiled.

“Okay” he simply said, then leaned in to receive another kiss in goodbye. “I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.” Derek only grinned, but Stiles knew that it meant he was looking forward to it as well. 

Stiles skipped towards his Jeep, freshly out of the shop, but turned back to the house and Derek, who was still standing in the doorway, before entering the car.

“Are you going to tell me where we are going?”

“Nope.” Stiles just shook his head at that answer and got into the car. With a roar the Jeep came to life and rumpled away from the house. 

Derek waited until he had heard the car turn onto the main road off of the preserve, then went back inside. Isaac had come back out of hiding in his room, grinning slightly at his guardian while looking through the cupboards in the kitchen. 

“Date, huh?” 

“Shut up, puppy” Derek replied, but his voice held no venom in it. Isaac rolled his eyes at the nickname.

“Don’t call me that!” he groaned, but sobered up quickly. “I’m glad you’re happy.” 

Derek was thankful he had taken in such a sensitive kid. Isaac was great.

“You’re hungry?” he asked instead of reacting to Isaac’s last comment. It didn’t go unheard though, Isaac knew that.

“Practically starving!” he replied and hopped onto a stool at the breakfast table.

“Steak sound good to you?”

*** 

The next night, Stiles spent more than his fair share of time in the bathroom and in front of his wardrobe. He wasn't a vain person and he knew Derek wouldn’t really care about what he wore to their date, but still the teenager wanted to put a bit of effort into his looks.  
It was his first date, ever, after all.

When he had finally found something actually nice looking to wear, seriously, the girls would be proud, he sat down in his bed and smiled slightly. 

He was going on a date. On a date with Derek Hale. Derek Hale, who Stiles had had somewhat of a crush, and a lot of attraction, on pretty much since the day the broody man had come back to Beacon Hills. Derek Hale, who was his boyfriend. The thought made stiles smile. They had been going out for two weeks now, and it wasn't something you could oversee, but still it caught Stiles off guard every once in a while. Whenever they lay curled into each other in the middle of the heap of bodies belonging to the members of the wolf pack on the ginormous couch stiles and Derek had picked all those weeks ago before moving into the new house. Back then it had felt to Stiles as if he was moving in with Derek, and not Isaac. Stiles actually did practically live in the pack house by now, with the amount of time he spent in the preserve instead of in his own home.

It wasn't something he really wanted to change though. He liked where his life was leading. After all the hustle they had had to go through in the last few months, the relatively calm life of being in a semi-well adapted wolf pack was something that all of them deserved. Most of all Derek, though.

With another smile and a giggle that Stiles would most definitely deny if anyone asked him about it, he made his way downstairs and into the sitting room, where his dad was sitting in his old armchair, reading the newspaper of that day. It was a rare sight for Stiles to see his dad at home. Not just because he was barely home anymore. The sheriff had been working a lot lately, wrapping up all of the open cases that had come up thanks to the incredible influx of ‘accidents’ since the supernatural population had increased in their home town. Seeing the sheriff at home two evenings in a row was actually something that hadn’t happened before, ever. 

Grinning at the fact that his father was taking a step back from working too hard Stiles walked into the kitchen, busying himself with taking out containers of prepared food for his father to eat later that day. It was only partly because he wanted his father to eat healthy and not order pizza that night. It was also because he needed something to do to keep the unwanted nerves at bay.

Stiles didn’t know why he was nervous, he had been out with Derek a number of times, but back then it hadn’t been a date. Well, it hadn’t appeared to them to be a date. 

Stiles also knew that it was stupid to be nervous about going on a date with someone you were in a relationship already. It would be excusable if this date determined how Derek and he would go from there, but it was unlikely that Derek would want to stop being his boyfriend after seeing Stiles’ bad table manners that evening. 

It was irrational, but nothing Stiles could shake.

“Do you want to fatten me up for Christmas? I didn’t plan to be the holiday roast!” John said then and interrupted Stiles’ circling thoughts. The boy looked down at what he was doing and blushed slightly. He hadn’t noticed how much food he had taken out of the fridge!

“I… uhm…”

“You’re nervous because you are going on a date with Derek, aren’t you?”

Damn, why did his dad have to be this good at looking right through Stiles? The teenager closed the fridge and let himself fall on one of the chairs at the breakfast table. The huff was of extraordinary proportions.

“I don’t even know why I’m nervous” he moaned. Sheriff Stilinski chuckled slightly and moved to put some of the food back where it belonged.

“I don’t know either, but I’m pretty sure it’s unnecessary. Derek won’t break up with you just because of your awful taste in food and non-existent table manners” John tried to reassure his son, but Stiles just huffed once more.

“Don’t you think I know that? I have no idea what’s wrong with me!”

“You like Derek. You want everything to be great tonight. It’s cute!” Stiles groaned at the word ‘cute’. He didn’t want to be cute! Just then his phone chirped in his back pocket. Reading the message he had received, his heart started pumping a bit faster.

‘Be there in 5 minutes – Derek’

Date night was actually happening. 

Trying to drown out his nerves, Stiles did his best to formulate a witty comeback. 

‘Don’t text and drive! My dad’s the sheriff!’

It could have been better.

*** 

“I was standing at a red light” Derek said when Stiles opened the door a few minutes later. It had been exactly five minutes. Such a showoff, his boyfriend.

“Well, you better have, or else I’ll have Dad write you a ticket for driving and texting at the same time! You might be a supernatural creature but car crashes can still kill you!” Stiles countered and ushered Derek inside to wait while he put on his shoes and gathered his things. 

“You heard my son. I don’t want you to get into any danger tonight, understood?” John piped up from inside the kitchen. A second later he emerged into the hallway and fixed Derek with a serious look.

“Yes Sir” Derek replied, looking down at his feet like a reprimanded child. 

“You don’t have to ‘sir’ me, Derek. We have been on a first name basis for quite some time now. I just want you to know that I am going to shoot you if anything happens to my son.”

“DAD!” Stiles felt like the main character of some awful teen romance, where the overprotective father threatens the boyfriend if he doesn’t treat his daughter right. Except he wasn’t a girl. And he knew how to defend himself against a werewolf. 

“I’m just making sure you won’t get in trouble” the Sheriff replied, shrugging his shoulders slightly. “When are you going to get back here? Should I install a curfew for tonight? It is your first date after all, I don’t want you to get carried away…”

“DAD!” Stiles exclaimed once more, and he honestly felt like he could sink into the earth right then. His father wasn’t like that usually, why did he have to start now?

“Actually, I thought Stiles could stay over at my place tonight. I don’t know how long we are going to be out and I don’t want him to wake you when he comes back. You have an early shift tomorrow and you know how loud he is walking around the house” Derek said then. Now Stiles was the one to give him the stink eye. Were they all ganging up on him?

“Well, I guess that’s fine. But no funny business; that rule still holds” John relented. 

Swallow him now, earth, why don’t you?!

Stiles did his best to usher Derek out of the house as quickly as possible after that. He didn’t want his dad to embarrass him even further. Seriously, had he known the dating thing came with these awful side effects of overprotective parents and condescending boyfriends, he never would have agreed to it! 

“Don’t frown like that, it’ll give you premature wrinkles” Derek said when they were sitting in his car.

“That was the last thing I ever thought I would hear you say” Stiles replied, grinning already. He liked Derek too much to be annoyed with him on their first date. He was actually going on a date! With DEREK HALE! 

If someone had told him that half a year ago, Stiles would have laughed in their face.

“So where are we going?” Stiles asked then. He hadn’t even asked before what they were doing tonight.

“Not going to tell you” Derek answered with a grin.

“Aw, come on man. What if I don’t like it?”

“You do, trust me.”

“But what if I’m allergic to the food? I have to know if you are trying to kill me after all?”

“You aren’t allergic and I’m not trying to kill you. I could have done that without spending any money.” The grin on Derek’s face was getting wider and wider. He should smile more often, it suited him.

It didn’t take them long until Derek turned into a parking lot of an establishment Stiles knew quite well.

“Sushi? We’re having sushi? Can wolves even eat sushi?” Stiles asked, now sporting a matching grin. He loved sushi!

“Well, wolves who are mostly human eat it. I’m not sure if there are sushi bars in the wilderness for the rest of them” Derek stated, such a smartass!

“How did you know I wanted to have sushi again soon?”

“You told Scott about it. I overheard” Derek admitted, and was that a hint of a blush on his cheeks?

“That’s amazing, man!”

The pair made their way to the restaurant and were seated immediately at the bar. 

The sushi was better than any Stiles had ever had before. Maybe it was because of the company. Maybe it was just the situation. He didn’t care.

“So are we just going to eat? Or is there anything else planned for tonight? We could also just go back to your place and watch a movie, I would be fine with that” Stiles asked between bites of sushi and pickled ginger.

“Isaac’s home so I don’t think that would be the best conditions for a date night” Derek replied.

“Oh I don’t care if he’s there as well. He’s family, so he belongs there.”

“Still. I have something else planned anyways.”

“Are you going to tell me that at least?” Stiles liked this date, but he didn’t like being kept in the dark.

“After dinner I’m telling you.”

Derek didn’t tell him after dinner. Instead he steered him back to the car and onto the highway. Stiles was starting to think Derek was taking him out into the wilderness to kill him after all when they pulled into a parking lot in front of a large industrial building. 

“This looks like a scene out of Dexter” Stiles mumbled, but of course Derek heard him.

“I’m not going to wrap you up in plastic foil, kill you and keep a sample of your blood, don’t worry” the wolf replied, and Stiles was surprised he had known the reference. “We’re going to play paintball.”

“Paintball? Seriously?” Derek nodded. “That’s so cool! Best date ever!” Stiles turned to Derek and pressed his lips to his in mid-walk.

This was one of the perks of dating a guy. Derek was practically the same height, so he didn’t have to lean down to kiss him. So convenient!

“I’m glad you think so.”

*** 

After a successful game of paintball, which Derek won, of course, the pair peeled out of their dirty overalls and sat down at the bar to have something to drink before they made their way back to Beacon Hills. 

Picking a flake of dried paint out of Derek’s hair, Stiles chuckled slightly.

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing. It’s just so crazy that we actually ended up together. I have had a crush on you basically since you came back to Beacon Hills, and now we are actually here together, on a date, and not killing each other!” Stiles explained, shaking his head. It did sound really crazy when you considered their past.

“That’s a bit strange, indeed. I should have mangled you for accusing me of murder instead of taking you out for dinner” Derek agreed, but he smiled. He didn’t mean a word he was saying. He was happy with how everything had turned out.

“I’m just too likeable to be mangled by a big bad wolf” Stiles laughed. “No, but really, I’m glad we ended up like this. I can’t imagine being here with anyone else right now.” He blushed slightly at his honest words.

“No one? Not even Lydia? Last I heard you had a huge crush on her and not on me.”

“Lydia? God, no? I used to have a crush on her, but really, I’d never have a chance with her and she’s happy with Jackson, God knows why. And we would never have worked out anyways. We’re better off as friends, and she’s basically like a sister to me now. Dating her would be just… weird” Stiles stated, shuddering slightly at the thought of dating Lydia now. She really was like a sister to him, and that would be just wrong!

Derek didn’t say anything for a moment, his mind having a fight if he should say what he thought. Eventually he decided.

“I didn’t really know I liked you until that day Danny saw us and said we were on a date. I mean, I liked you, you were pack, but I didn’t realize I liked you like that. My wolf had been going a bit crazy around you for a while, though, but I thought it was something temporary and he was just beside himself for a different reason” Derek explained. He felt stupid that he hadn’t realized why his wolf was acting so strange earlier. “I guess he really was beside himself, just in a different way than I thought.” He chuckled slightly. 

“Well, at least you found out eventually” Stiles appeased him and grinned. 

“I guess you’re right” Derek said and finished his drink. “You wanna head home now? It’s getting late?” 

With a nod Stiles finished his drink as well and the pair headed back out and to their car.

They continued talking on the way home, about the rest of the vacation, about other trips they had planned, they wanted to go hiking before the end of the summer, and they didn’t even realize when they entered Beacon Hills and turned into the path through the preserve. 

Entering the house Derek noticed immediately that Isaac had already gone to bed and that no one else of the pack was in. Very well, he thought, it wouldn’t be too crowded in the morning, then. He hadn’t done the weekly shopping yet and they would run low on food if the entire pack was to arrive for breakfast.

“So… I guess…” Stiles started when the front door was closed and they were standing in the foyer.

“You have a toothbrush and some sweatpants upstairs in the bathroom, right? You go get ready and I’ll make the bed. Come downstairs once you’re done, okay?” Derek cut him off before Stiles could stutter around anymore. He knew what the teenager was going to say. They hadn’t ever really stayed overnight together. Of course, there had been pack nights since they had gotten together, and they always lay next to each other, but they wouldn’t be sleeping on the couch tonight. It was the alpha’s job to reassure the pack mate.

Stiles grinned slightly.

“Okay.”

Five minutes later Stiles came back down the stairs and into Derek’s bedroom. The alpha had added more pillows to the ones already on the bed, knowing Stiles always needed at least three pillows to sleep comfortably, and he had sat down a glass of water at the bedside table. Stiles got thirsty at least twice a night.

In a single bound Stiles let himself fall onto the mattress and sighed.

“Your bed is really comfortable!” he exclaimed, sinking into the comforter and the mound of pillows. 

Derek joined his boyfriend on the other side of the bed, lying down on his fewer pillows, grinning and content in the situation. His wolf was yipping in happiness, wagging its tail.

“Well, only the best for the alpha” he said and made Stiles laugh. The teenager rolled onto his side and curled up in Derek’s side, his head rested on Derek’s chest.

“You know, I’m really happy we got our heads out of out asses. Just imagine still dancing around each other like we did. Eventually we would have driven Lydia crazy and she would have locked us in a room until we worked everything out, I’m sure. She once did that to a girl on the cheerleading squad and a Lacrosse player. They haven’t broken up yet” Stiles said, but his words were interspersed with yawns.

“Well, I could have ripped out the door” Derek added, but Stiles shook his head.

“She would have used mountain ash. She’s mean like that.”

The conversation slowed and Derek listened to Stiles even breaths. He wasn’t asleep yet, but he was close. 

This was what he wanted. This was what he always had wanted.

MATE MATE MATE his wolf announced just then loudly and clearly and Derek turned into stone. 

“Oh my God” he whispered and woke Stiles back out of his slumber. He looked at Derek concernedly.

“What’s going on? Derek?” he asked frantically when Derek didn’t move. “Oh God, did you just realize that your boyfriend is a seventeen year old spaz and you realize it was a huge mistake to ever agree to kiss me? Derek?”

The fear in Stiles’ voice made Derek come back to reality. His wolf wouldn’t let anything or anyone hurt his mate. 

“It’s- it’s not that. Not at all” he said slowly, still lying still.

“Well what is it then? You are scaring me, Derek.” 

Derek said up slightly and turned to look Stiles in the eyes.

“You are my mate.”

“I’m… I’m your mate? As in Jackson-and-Lydia-mate? As in destined to be together till the end of the world?”

Derek just nodded.

“Holy shit. Seriously?”

“You don’t have to accept. It’s not something that is pushed upon you. You have to say yes to being my mate if you are sure you want to be it” Derek explained slowly. This was the first thing his mother had explained to him when he had reached puberty. 

“So it’s like being married without a certificate?” Only Stiles could compare it like that!

“Kind of, but it’s more than just being married. Being the alpha mate, it will change you. You will be able to feel the betas. You will have a higher position in the pack. The betas are going to treat you differently” Derek explained further, ticking off the things he had learned about alpha’s mates from his parents. His father had been his mother’s mate, he had experienced it first hand when his grandfather had died and his mother had taken over the position of alpha. His father had changed then, too. 

“So, if I say yes I’m gonna be your mate forever?” Stiles asked and Derek nodded. “And if I say no? Are you going to find a different mate then?”

“No. Wolves only have one mate, and if the mate doesn’t accept they won’t have another one” Derek said, looking down in his lap. “I’m surprised my wolf settled so quickly.”

“Well, you told me he had been acting differently for some time, so I guess for him we have been together a lot longer than we actually have been…” 

Stiles was silent for a few minutes after that. Derek worried he would say no, he knew it would change their relationship.

“Well, it’s really stupid to say no, isn’t it? I’m kind of in love with you, and I don’t really want to give you away anymore, so why not make it official like that? I know it’s all going really fast, but this” Stiles pointed between him and Derek, “This feels completely right. So yes, I’m going to be your wolf bride!” 

Derek closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. Had he really just heard right? Then he began to laugh.

He was happy, truly and completely happy. Turning to Stiles he grabbed his face with both his hands and pressed a kiss to his boyfriend’s lips. 

“I love you too” he said when he released Stiles, leaning his forehead against Stiles’.

“Well, good, otherwise it would be really awkward because I just admitted my love to you!”

Stiles settled back onto Derek’s chest and Derek lay down again as well.

“Let’s go to sleep now. I’m tired.”

*** 

Derek and Stiles were sitting at the breakfast table together the next morning, the table laden with every kind of cereal the house had provided. Stiles was nursing a cup of coffee, the one Derek made that didn’t need any creamer to make it taste amazing. Derek was beside him, hidden behind that day’s newspaper. He wore reading glasses. READING GLASSES! How cute was that?

The two could hear Isaac trudging down the stairs before they saw him enter the kitchen, his curly hair tousled from his restless sleep that came up every time the pack wasn’t with him. His eyes were barely opened yet as he waddled to the fridge to seek for some orange juice.

“Morning Derek, morning Mom…” he said with a yawn. 

The spoon that was on its way to Stiles’ mouth stopped mid air.

“What did you just call me?!” he asked incredulously. Isaac turned to look at the pair sitting at the table and blanched when he realized what he had said. 

“I-“

Derek was still hidden behind the newspaper, but his shoulders shook slightly as he chuckled.

“Derek why are you laughing? Why did Isaac just call me MOM?” Stiles exclaimed.

Derek lowered the paper and looked at his mate.

“I told you the pack would treat you differently…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly guys, I can't even tell you how amazing you all are! The kind words you sent me, all those subscriptions and kudos and bookmarks, I can't even begin to thank all of you for that! I never would have thought that something I wrote would be liked by others as well! THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!
> 
> In case you don't know, this story will have a sequel. It is going to be Isaac centric and I am currently in the process of outlining the chapters. I can't tell you when it is going to go up, but I hope it won't be too long... I'm also planning a few oneshots to go with the stories, and I will post them whenever I'll feel like it. I have a few planned already, but nothing is written yet, so please be patient! Nice messages might help my creativity, but I don't want to promise anything. 
> 
> Again, thank you so much for reading my story, you guys are awesome!


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